KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) plunged on Wednesday as it lost control in later-day trading and ended the day on a negative note.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 661.30 points (-1.51%) and closed at 43,221.78 points. The stock market remained in control during early trading and reached its highest level of 44,172.74 points.
The bourse gradually went on a downward trajectory and ended on a negative note before trading was suspended. The total volume of shares was 156.336 million valued at Rs9.187bn.
The lower-bench KSE-30 index declined by 335.93 points (-1.95%) and closed at 16,881.07 points. The total volume of shares was 72.211 million. The KMI-30 index plunged by 1,266.18 points (-1.80%) and closed at 69,175.76 points, while All-Share Index also declined by 375.71 points (-1.24%) and closed at 29,850.69 points.
The most active stock was Hascol Petroleum (HASCOL -16.23%) which saw 36.758 million shares traded at the stock market. This was followed by WorldCall Telecom Ltd (WTL -6.79%), Telecard Ltd (TELE -7.01%), and Ghani Global Ltd (GGL -3.94%). The total volume of scripts was 28.869 million, 17.011 million, and 16.611 million respectively.
Speculation about the possible receipt of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche of $1 billion this month and the State Bank of Pakistan’s curbs on buying of US dollar revived investor optimism. However, the expected hike in power tariff and political relations had an overbearing effect on stock market.