KARACHI: As anxious investors continued to liquidate their holdings in the face of escalating political and economic tensions, bears further tightened their hold on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, dragging the KSE-100 index below the 113,000 mark as equity prices plummeted for the fourth straight session.
According to Arif Habib Corporation’s Ahsan Mehanti, selling pressure was evident everywhere due to worries about the outcome of the government-PTI negotiations and the upcoming tax legislation that would exclude non-filer PSX investors.
He blamed the decline on political unpredictability, worries about cautious monetary policy easing, and anxiety about how slippages might affect IMF tax collection targets.
The KSE-100 index ended the day at 112,638, down 1,510 points, or 1.32 percent, according to Topline Securities Ltd. With a peak of 114,330 and a low of 112,595, the market saw significant volatility, indicating that sentiment was impacted by uncertainties in the cement and gas industries.
Engro Holding, Mari Petroleum, Meezan Bank, Lucky Cement, and Engro Fertilizer were the primary causes of the index’s decline, deducting 615 points.
Investor sentiment was shattering like a biscuit as they aggressively reduced their trading positions, forcing the benchmark index to break through two hurdles in a single session, according to Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities. “It appears that bears have total control over the market,” he said.
The market’s negative phase can be ascribed to growing political uncertainty, the lack of any encouraging catalyst, and persistent foreign selling.
Investors are closely monitoring the remarks made by the recently elected US government about the opposition leader in Pakistan who was jailed. According to Mr. Najib, “any development that works in his favor could probably have the potential to destabilize the current ruling equation and their policies.”
Day-over-day, the trading value fell 25.17 percent to Rs24.29 billion shares, while the market volume fell 36.80 percent to 695.14 million shares.
