KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained in the grip of selling pressure on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index shed almost 490 points, with analysts attributing the fall to the central bank’s hike in the interest rate amid current political situation.
Political turmoil around a long march planned by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for May 25 has instilled panic in investors’ mind, motivating them to sell off their holdings.
The market also reacted negatively to the steep hike of 150 basis points in the benchmark interest rate by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which took it to an 11-year high of 13.75% on Monday.
According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index had gone down by 434.15 points, or 1.02 per cent, around 2:15pm. At close, the KSE-100 fell 1.15% to finish at 41,950.32, the lowest level since December 1, 2020, when it finished at 41,665.27.
Sector driving the benchmark index downwards included banking (114.76 points), technology and communication (80.20 points) and cement (77.79 points).
Volume on the all-share index surged to 169.7 million from 118.99 million a day prior. The value of shares traded contracted to Rs5.46 billion from Rs3.58 billion recorded in the previous session.
Pakistan Refinery was the volume leader with 15.74 million shares, followed by Silkbank with 14.67 million shares, and TPL Properties with 10.6 million shares.
Shares of 318 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 94 registered an increase, 208 recorded a fall, and 16 remained unchanged.
