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Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as the KSE-100 index closed negative for third consecutive session, driven by political uncertainty and anticipation over monetary policy.
Investors remained in panic mode due to the two developments and as a result, the KSE-100 index shed 443.99 points or 1.03% to close at 42,826.66 points.
Trading began with a slide and the market remained range-bound for the rest of the day. The market flattened in the final hours and closed in the red.
Automobile, cement, bank, fertiliser, oil and refinery sectors took a hit, with some of them closing entirely in the red.
A report from Capital Stake stated that downward trend continued at the PSX as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the monetary policy announcement later in the day.
“Indices continued to slip lower and lower all day long with the benchmark KSE-100 index falling below 43,000 mark, while volumes depreciated from last close,” it said. “As per analysts, rising political turmoil also dented investors’ confidence.”
Sectors dragging the KSE-100 lower included banking sector (103.567 points), cement sector (50.59 points) and technology and communication sector (46.07 points).
Volume on the all-share index plunged to 194.67 million from 306.2 million on Friday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded declined to Rs5.33 billion from Rs6.39 billion recorded in the previous session.
Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 17.53 million shares, followed by K-Electric with 14.69 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 12.97 million shares.
Shares of 329 companies were traded on Monday, of which 66 registered an increase, 245 recorded a fall, and 18 remained unchanged.
