KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week with a steep fall on Monday as investors seemed to be worried about the ongoing flash floods that have caused widespread devastation and displaced millions of people in the country.
At around 11:30am, the KSE-100 Index was hovering around the 42,054.26 level after a fall of 537.25 points or 1.26%.
Across-the-board selling was witnessed as the market gauged the impact of ongoing floods that have ravaged Pakistan and have claimed over 1,030 lives while causing large-scale infrastructure damage.
The analysts believed that the banking sector would be the hardest hit, as its agri-based loans would be impacted.
JS Global, a brokerage house in its report released on Friday, had also warned that the ongoing flash floods in Pakistan could trigger losses to the tune of billions for the country, led by an increase in imports and export slowdown and higher inflation.
“While too early to accurately quantify, our preliminary estimates suggest that repercussions may include more than $4 billion, higher-than-estimated imports in FY23, and a possible slowdown in exports from the absence of cotton and partially rice,” said the report.
