KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday witnessed a downward trajectory for the third consecutive day this week amid the economic uncertainty after the recent staff-level deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The benchmark KSE-100 index slumped by 584.82 points (-1.3%) and closed at 44,363.70 points. The bourse declined in early trading before reaching its lowest point of 44,207.83 points. It eventually recovered and reached its highest level of 44,983.91 points before it slumped once again on a negative note. The total volume of shares was 140.130 million valued at Rs9.817bn.
This is the third day KSE-100 index has witnessed a downward trend. A day earlier, the stock market slumped over 700 points to tumble below the 45,000 point level. Bears dominated the stock market amid the gloomy macroeconomic outlook and speculations over the stringent condition laid by the IMF to release the next tranche of the loan agreement.
The lower-bench KSE-30 also declined by 255.96 points (-1.47%) and closed at 17,124.02 points. The total volume of share were 85.571 million. The KMI-30 index plunged by 1066.52 points (-1.47%) and closed at 71,357.17 points, while the All-Share Index declined by 349.36 points (-1.13%) to close at 30,642.82 points. The total volume of shares at the stock market was 310.3 million.
The most active stock was TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG 1.99%) which saw 26.519 million shares traded at the stock market. This was followed by WorldCall Telecom Ltd (WTL -2.76%), TPL Properties Ltd (TPLP -2.76%), and Telecard Ltd (-3.69%). The total volume of scripts was 24.680 million, 24.083 million, and 15.433 million respectively.
On the economic front, Advisor to PM on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has revealed that the federal government will table a mini-budget by next week. He said the IMF wanted Pakistan to impose new taxes worth around Rs700 billion which have been reduced to Rs350 billion.
The IMF has agreed to release the next loan tranche of $1b to Pakistan under the $6bn programme on November 22. However, the tough terms of the deal including power tariff hikes and removal of GST exemptions has subdued investor sentiments.
