Mayhem at PSX as KSE 100 index plummets by 786 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed mayhem on Monday with the benchmark KSE 100 index losing over 700 points after the announcement of the federal budget 2020-21 last week.

The carnage at PSX comes after the dismal state of the economy as the GDP growth rate slumped to negative 0.39 percent. The economy has lost Rs3,000 billion in national income due to the adverse effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark KSE 100 index recorded a loss of 786.72 points or -2.27% and closed 33,824.51 points. The index had touched its intraday low of 33,814.86 after losing 796.37 points falling below the 34,000 mark. The total volume of scripts was 164.516 million valued at Rs6.085 billion.

The lower bench KSE 30 index lost 375.22 points (-2.50%) and closed at 14.663.61 points. The total volume of share dropped to 65.319 million.

The KMI 30 index depreciated by 1,502.31 points and ended at 53,628.12. While the KSE All Share index settled after declining by 480.01 points at 24,223.28. Out of total shares traded 78 advanced and 223 declined.

The Overall market volumes were recorded at 262.37 million shares. Unity Foods (UNITY +2.29%), Power Cement Limited (POWER -1.11%) and Azgard Nine Limited (ANL +6.11%) were volume leaders of the day. The scripts had 45.35 million, 10.97 million, and 10.34 million shares traded respectively.

The sectors drowning the KSE 100 index lower included the banking sector (-178.05 points), oil and gas exploration sector (-115.10 points) and cement sector (-99.50 points).

Company-wise, MCB Bank Limited (MCB -51.24 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC -49.69 points) and United Bank (-45.24 points) chipped of maximum points from the index.

The oil and gas marketing sector lost 3.43 percent from its cumulative market capitalization due to a decline in global market prices. Pakistan State Oil Company (PSO -5.03%), Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC -3.28%), Shell Pakistan (SHEL -3.13%) and Hi-Tech Lubricants Limited (HTL -5.30%) all closed negative.