KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crashed on Tuesday amid massive economic uncertainty and depressed investor sentiment as the KSE-100 Index plunged over 1,300 points on Tuesday.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 1378.54 points, or 3.47 per cent, to reach 38,342.21 points.
The delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan program and the ongoing political uncertainty in the country caused the bloodbath in the stock market.
Meanwhile, the depleting forex reserves with the State Bank of Pakistan below the $5 billion mark — enough for less than three weeks of import — is making the investors jittery.
The country has been facing a serious dollar shortage, which is resulting in restricted imports of even food and industrial raw materials. The latest position of foreign exchange reserves reflects that the country doesn’t have sufficient dollars to cover even one month of average imports. In the prevailing situation, Pakistan needs to complete the much-delayed ninth review of the IMF for the release of $1.18bn.
Trading began on a positive note, but selling pressure soon gripped the market, dragging equities lower.
Automobile, cement, banking, chemical, oil and other sectors were all in the red as investors offloaded their holdings. As the day progressed, the KSE-100 only found itself dragged deeper in the red.
On the political front, dissolution of Khyber-Paktunkhwa’s assembly is on the cards and the provincial government may send a summary later during the day.
On the economic front, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that the government will have to increase the price of gas as it looks to revive the IMF bailout program.
Pakistan is also set to hold bilateral talks with a Russian delegation on Tuesday, for long-term oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade deal and the construction of the $3 billion Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project.
A total of 205,906,982 shares were traded during the day as compared to 105,542,468 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 6.710 billion against Rs 3.203 billion on the last trading day.
As many as 340 companies transacted their shares in the stock market; 34 of them recorded gains and 281 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 25 companies remained unchanged.
The three top-trading companies were K-Electric with 29,912,473 shares at Rs 2.07 per share, WorldCAll Telecom with 14,479,623 shares at Rs 1.10 per share, and Sui North Gas with 9,689,650 shares at Rs 35.33 per share.
Nestle Pakistan witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 196.00 per share price, closing at Rs 5,595.00, whereas the runner-up was Pak Services with a Rs 104.00 rise in its per share price to Rs 439.92.
Bhanero Textile witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 76.80 per share closing at Rs 948.20, followed by Bata (Pak) with Rs 69.00 decline to close at Rs 851.00.
