PSX witness minuscule gains over lack of triggers

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange failed to witness any significant growth on Tuesday due to growing instability in global equity markets and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark KSE 100 index witnessed a minuscule gain of 76.11 points (0.11%) and closed at 33.992.75 points. The bourse rallies by 336.8 points immediately after trading open and eventually reached the highest level of 34,385.76 points.

The indices began to observe a bearish trend and lost the 34,000 level before trading was suspended. The total volume of shares was 197.369 million valued at Rs7.956 billion.

Meanwhile, the KSE 30 index also observed a gain of 51.59 points (0.34%) and closed at 15,007.88 points. The total volume of scripts was 92.98 million.

The companies which saw a gain in share prices include HASCOL (4.55%), UNITY (6.14%), PAEL (1.21%), HUMNL (12.89%) and OGDC (1.78%). While on the other hand FCCL (-0.18%), MLCF, (-2.23%), PIOC (-4.72%), KEL (-1.03%) and WTL (-2.53%) saw a decline in share prices.

The stock market has been facing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy and domestic markets. The bearish sentiment since the last two days can be attributed to the ongoing impact of coronavirus on local markets.

The market is expected to remain under pressure in the coming days. Investors are expecting a further cut in policy rate which led to low trading in the banking sector.

Global crude prices rose on Tuesday which led to a rally in the oil exploration and marketing sectors, while stock markets also bounced back as more economies reopened.