KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) plunged on Friday amid distressing results that the economy has received a battering due to coronavirus pandemic and will be on a long road to recovery.
Finance Adviser Hafeez Shaikh presented the Economic Survey on Thursday which stated that the economy has suffered a loss of Rs3 trillion due to pandemic. Consequently, the GDP growth rate has shrunk to negative 0.38 percent.
This rocked the stock market as it resumed trading on Friday as it plunged by 589.94 points (-1.68%) to 34,538.64 points. Bears took charge of the stock market as indices continued to trade in red as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the announcement of federal budget 2020-21.
The benchmark KSE 100 index recorded its intraday low of 34,503.94 and lost the 35,000 points mark again. The index closed with a loss of 517.35 points (-1.47%) at 34,611.23 points before trading was suspended
The KSE 30 index also slumped by 291.44 (-1.90%) and closed at 15,038.83 points. The total volume of scripts at the lower bourse was 51.651 million. The KMI 30 index depreciated by 890.68 points and settled at 55,130.43 points, while KSE All-Share index declined by 307.24 points and closed at 24,703.29 points.
Out of total scripts traded, 77 advanced and 202 declined. The overall market volumes contracted from 269.30 million shares in previous session to 177.76 million shares. Shares worth Rs6.31 billion were traded on Friday while five-day average value of total shares traded stood at Rs 8.15 billion.
Azgard Nine (ANL +7.09%), Maple Leaf Cement Factory (MLCF -0.79%) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -2.46%) were volume leaders of the day. The scripts had 12.69 million shares, 11.35 million shares and 10.80 million shares traded respectively.
The sectors driving the KSE 100 index south included banking sector (-180.24 points), oil and gas exploration sector (-122.28 points) and power generation and distribution sector (-35.31 points). The refinery sector closed as top loser with a loss of negative 4.09 percent in total market capitalisation.
Company-wise, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC -49.82 points), Habib Bank Limited (HBL -47.01 points) and MCB Bank (MCB -44.68 points) chipped maximum points from the index.
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