The bearish spell at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued on Wednesday as the benchmark KSE-100 index lost around 600 points in a volatile session. The KSE-100 index closed down at 44,364 after shedding by 585 points.

The bourse has offloaded more than 2,100 points since the start of the week.

Nervousness over the harsh conditions put down by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) drove investors to book profit. Furthermore, poor economic cues led to massive foreign selling during the session.

Although Pakistan reached an agreement with the IMF, the rupee continued depreciating against the US dollar, dampening investor spirits even more.

Earlier, trading started with a drop, but, the KSE-100 index made a rebound by midday and traded in the green zone.

The market failed to keep up the uptrend owing to frail investor sentiment and dropped steadily for the remaining session. During the last hour, the selling spree fast-tracked inflating the losses even more.

Towards closing the benchmark KSE-100 index plummeted by 584.82 points, or 1.3%, to settle at 44,363.70.

According to a report by Arif Habib Limited bears remained dominant over the bulls for the third consecutive session in the ongoing week as investors were concerned about the upcoming mini-budget.

Furthermore, the IMF rejected Pakistan’s request to keep the option of borrowing from the central bank and did not approve any noteworthy accountability of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The third day of the rollover week at the PSX endured pressure despite attractive stock valuations as it witnessed an across-the-board selling.

Looking at the institutional front, there was a watchful stance owing to concerns over the foreign selling spree on the upcoming MSCI re-balancing day.

Analyst at JS Global Waqar Iqbal said that the KSE-100 index was pulled down by 741 points during the intra-day trading.

The market saw this response even before the announcement of the mini-budget, eradication of sales tax exemptions, and rollover settlement while selling pressure continued for the entire day.

Iqbal noted, “Cautious approach is advisable as the market is likely to face more pressure in the upcoming sessions with the overhang of pre-conditions related to the IMF loan program continuing to dent market sentiment”.

As per the data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan, Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs2.15 billion worth of shares during the trading session.

Shares of 341 companies were traded. Towards the end of the day, 76 stocks closed higher, 245 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

Total traded volume stood at 310 million shares. Leading the volume chart was TRG Pakistan with 26.5 million shares, gaining Rs1.76 to close at Rs90.11. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 24.7 million shares, losing Rs0.06 to close at Rs2.11, and TPL Properties with 24.1 million shares, losing Rs3.37 to close at Rs42.39.

Overall trading volumes jumped to 310.4 million shares compared to Tuesday’s tally of 264.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.95 billion.

News Desk
The story was filed by the News Desk. The Desk can be reached at info@thecorrespondent.com.pk.

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