ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) shed 1,243 points in intraday trading on Wednesday before bouncing back later in the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index opened at 46,008.85 points and gained slightly within the opening minute of the session to reach day’s high of 46,031.89 points.
The bourse then witnessed sharp selling had plunged to its lowest level 44,788.17 points. It managed to stage a recovery and cut its losses to 411.61 points (-0.89%) by the end of the session, closing at 45,597.24. The total volume of shares was 227.489 million valued at Rs9.956bn.
The lower-bench KSE-30 index decreased by 149.92 points (-0.83%) and closed at 18,028.99 points. The total volume of shares was 70.577 million. The KMI-30 index dropped by 627.98 points (-0.86%) and closed at 72,623.81 points, while the All-Share Index declined by 343.16 points (-1.09%) and closed at 31,147.48 points.
The most active stock was WorldCall Telecom Ltd (WTL -4.18%) which saw 91.050 million shares traded at the stock market. This was followed by Azgard Nine Ltd (ANL -6.67%), Hum Network Ltd (HUMNL -6.67%), and Byco Petroleum (BYCO -6.58%) The total volume of scripts was 36.194 million, 34.077 million, and 33.465 million respectively.
The stock market reacted to the new monetary policy announced by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday along with the upcoming meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The market also reacted to uncertainty after the abandonment of cricket tours by England and New Zealand.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State Bank of Pakistan on Monday announced an increase of 25 basis points in the benchmark policy rate, taking it to 7.25 percent for the next two months effective from October 1, 2021.
On the economic front, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast that Pakistan’s economic growth rebounded to 3.9% in fiscal year 2021 (ending 30 June 2021) and is expected to reach 4.0% in FY2022 as business activity gradually resumes in the second year of the coronavirus pandemic.
