KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell by 828 points on Tuesday as high inflation and political uncertainty kept investors upset during the day.
The index closed at 44,223 points as against previous day’s closing of 45,051 points, showing a decline of 828 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market got another thrashing from investors on the back of rising inflation and political uncertainty.
Institutional investors are known to face redemptions from investors, which resulted in offloading of recently bought positions, especially in Cement and Steel sectors.
Expectation of an increase in inflation leading to a hike in monetary policy has recently caused havoc among investors looking for safe haven stocks.
Resultantly, Power sector saw gradual accumulation particularly KAPCO & HUBC. Banking sector also saw brisk buying with limited price gains.
Cement, Steel, Technology, O&GMC and E&P sectors saw major price reduction. Among scrips, GGL led the volumes with 41.2 million shares, followed by UNITY (33.3 million) and TRG (25.4 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-192 points), Technology (-146 points), E&P (-73 points), Textile (-71 points), O&GMCs (-62 points) and Banks (+20 points).
Volumes increased from 459.8 million shares to 492.3 million shares (+7 percent DoD). Average traded value declined by 5 percent to reach US$ 149.2 million as against US$ 157.6 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include GGL, UNITY, TRG, WTL and PRL, which formed 28 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include UBL (+23 points), MCB (+8 points), MARI (+8 points), HBL (+8 points) and BAHL (+8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-93 points), SYS (-50 points), DGKC (-47 points), LUCK (-43 points) and PSO (-39 points).
