KARACHI,: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crashed on Thursday amid rupee’s consistent free fall, with the KSE-100 Index bleeding 1,242.14 points (-2.69 percent) to settle at 45,002.41 points.
The market opened on a positive note and gained over 100 points during the first twenty minutes trading. However, the rupee’s consistent depreciation against the US dollar weighed on stocks badly. The benchmark index dropped by over 1,750 points or almost 3.8 percent at one point, slipping well below 44,500 points. The local currency continued its record breaking downward spree in the wake of speculative demand for the greenback in the domestic economy.
Market talk suggests that the caretaker government’s view of the current economic crisis in Pakistan is the primary reason for causing panic in capital markets. The dominant sentiment in the market is that caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar should give a policy statement as to how the incumbent government will tackle the crisis. The rupee has depreciated by 5 percent or Rs17 during the first two weeks of the caretaker setup.
The bourse is also melting due to high political temperatures in the country, leading to uncertainty over when the next general elections, which were initially speculatively slated for November 2023, will be held. The market sentiment has been dampened by the rising political uncertainty.
Moreover, Moody’s assertion for weak infrastructure and governance issues and concerns for unresolved circular debt crises in the power sector played a catalytic role in the bearish close. Investors are losing their confidence in the local bourse because of deteriorating economic conditions, resulting in a sell-off burden.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 1898.39 points showing an intraday high of 46,358.01 points and an intraday low of 44,459.62 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 777.63 points (-2.59 percent) to close at 30,041.97 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 584.84 points (-2.70 percent) to close at 21,635.63 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 67.67 million shares to 169.14 million shares against 101.47 million shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 87.07 million shares to 287.36 million shares against 200.29 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 31.87 million shares, followed by OGDC (17.49 million) and CNERGY (13.08 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, OGDC, CNERGY, PRL, and PPL which formed over 30 percent of total volumes.
A total of 324 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 326 a session earlier, out of which shares of 48 closed up, shares of 256 closed down while shares of 20 companies remained unchanged. A total of 96 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 93 a session earlier, out of which share price of 8 companies closed up, 84 closed down and four remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 28,107 to 141,155 as compared to 113,048 trades recorded in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs3.31 billion to Rs12.30 billion as compared to Rs8.99 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, SITC remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs15.22 (+6.96 percent) per share, closing at Rs233.9. The runner-up remained SURC, the share price of which climbed up by Rs7.63 (+7.425 percent) to Rs109.33. rmpl remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs255 (-3.09 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,000, followed by nestle, the share price of which fell by Rs188.38 (-2.65 percent) to close at Rs6,911 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (436 points), oil & gas exploration companies (162 points), cement (157 points), power generation & distribution (75 points), and fertilizer (71 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained MCB (120 points), UBL (103 points), HUBC (72 points), MEBL (70 points), and PPL (68 points).
The major sector taking the index towards north remained insurance, which added one point. The major companies adding points to the index remained SYS (12 points), FFC (8 points), AVN (3 points), ABL (2 points), and NRL (1 point).
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