Bloodbath at PSX, index plummets over 600 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) today (Friday) has witnessed a bloodbath on the last trading session of the week, with the indices taking a beating amid late selling.

The KSE-100 index started the day on positive note, registering its intraday high at 40,838.92 after gaining 162.00 points before the midday break.

It, however, failing to maintain its flight, plunging to its intraday low at 39,905.66 (-771.26 points) in the second half. The index finally settled lower by 606.09 points at 40,070.83.

On the other hand, the KMI-30 Index declined 1,499.61 points to end at 63,394.82, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 418.85 points, closing at 28,574.84.

The overall market volumes declined from 371.72 million shares in the previous session to 348.58 million shares. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -7.50pc), K-Electric Ltd (KEL -2.65pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -6.90pc) led the volume chart.

Sectors that painted the benchmark index red included oil & gas exploration (-134.92 points), oil & gas marketing (-77.51 points) and banking (-71.14 points). Shedding 4.64pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the technology and communication emerged as the session’s top loser.

Global equity markets showed a mixed performance, whereas crude oil prices plunged further from the previous close; WTI crude price falling 3.85pc to $37.22 while Brent crude price dropping 3.81pc to $39.37.