KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed tepid trading in the outgoing week as weak economic indicators and political uncertainty kept market participants mostly on the sidelines. Resultantly, the KSE-100 index declined 269 points or 0.64% to end the week at 41,679.49 points.
The first trading session of the week saw the market declining nearly 100 points as a strengthening dollar coupled with political turmoil dented investor sentiments.
Concerns regarding inflation and no further fund inflows from friendly nations continued to mount, limiting market participants’ ability to discount growth fears.
The market bounced back over the next two days and cushioned the dip amid robust remittance data and political developments, however, trading remained mostly range-bound.
Former prime minister Imran Khan expressed his willingness to speak to the government if it agreed to hold free and fair elections. This news in particular spurred bullish trading at the PSX.
Robust data of foreign remittances in August 2022 aided the KSE-100 index to recoup some of the losses. Receipt of over $2.7 billion from overseas Pakistanis in the past month painted an optimistic picture of the economy and motivated investors to assume fresh positions.
However, on Wednesday, investors offloaded their holdings, searching for positive triggers to steer the bourse forward, but the lack of positive cues gave way to selling pressure with many opting to remain on the sidelines.
The index reversed its direction once again in the last two sessions and reported losses owing to further depreciation in the rupee and depleting foreign exchange reserves which sparked panic regarding the economic situation.
Other major developments during the week were: oil, and food imports rose to $5 billion in July-August, July-August textile group exports rose 4.18% to $3.056 billion year-on-year, Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) sought exemption from Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the government unveiled solar PV projects policy, and All Pakistan Textile Mills Associations (APTMA) estimated $1.5 billion cotton production losses
Meanwhile, foreign buying was witnessed this week, clocking in at $13.8 million against a net sell of $2.82 million recorded last week. Buying was witnessed in technology ($11 million), and other sectors ($3.1 million).
On the domestic front, major selling was reported by insurance ($8.5 million), followed by mutual funds ($3.6 million).
