KARACHI: The stock market on Monday suffered one of its worst falls this year as the benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded a decline of 1,134.8 points.
The KSE-100 closed at 40,879.93, a fall of 1,134.8 points or 2.7% — the lowest level since November 27, 2020.
Equities initially opened in the green as the KSE-100 Index hit an intra-day high of 42,070, up 55 points. However, a massive selling spree was witnessed across the board soon after, pushing the index towards its intra-day low at 40,835, a drop of 1,180 points.
Topline Securities in its post-market comment said the banking sector’s stocks took a major hit due to a massive increase in taxation imposed by the government during the budget announcement.
Market talk suggested that the delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program despite constant efforts is the chief reason behind investors’ dump-and-run approach at the PSX.
The index has been under immense pressure since the last week when Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced the federal budget that was widely seen as a negative for the revival of the stalled $6 billion IMF program.
It is also worth mentioning that last week, the PSX became the third-worst performing market in Asia, despite having won the title of Asia’s best-performing stock market in August 2020.
