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PSX sinks below 41,000 amid political uncertainty

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  • KSE-100 sheds over 300 points as bears resort to stock selling.
  • Depreciation of rupee further dented investor interest.
  • Decent volumes were observed on the mainboard.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday lost ground in the face of political uncertainty that grew with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s announcement to dissolve Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on December 23.

The benchmark KSE-100 index shed over 300 points as bears resorted to stock selling due to emerging political developments.

The market came under selling pressure, which persisted throughout the trading session, dragging the index below the 41,000- point mark. Depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar further dented investor interest.

Earlier, the session kicked off on a positive note, however, the market dipped within an hour of trade. It remained under selling pressure, touching an intra-day low of 40,814.95 points.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 330.66 points, or 0.80%, to settle at 40,970.82.

Arif Habib Limited, in its post-market commentary, noted that the week started on a negative note at the PSX due to the ongoing political uncertainty, which kept investors squaring up their position in the market, with the index shedding 486.53 points during the intraday.

Decent volumes were observed on the mainboard although third-tier stocks remained in the spotlight.

Sectors contributing to the performance included power generation and distribution (-53.5 points), fertiliser (-51.5 points), technology and communication (-51.5 points), exploration and production (-47.1 points), automobile assembler (-33.7 points).

Shares of 317 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 82 scrips closed in the green, 220 in the red, and 15 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes rose to 142.57 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 139.65 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.81 billion.

Bank AlFalah was the volume leader with 29.01 million shares traded, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs30.68. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom Limited with 12.44 million shares traded, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs1.23 and Hascol Petrol with 9.45 million shares losing Rs0.71 to close at Rs6.09.

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