Pakistan’s stocks plunge by 674 points on high oil prices

Pakistan’s stocks plunge by 674 points on high oil prices

KARACHI: Pakistan’s stocks on Wednesday plunged by 674 points owing to sharp increase in international oil prices and alarming rise in coronavirus cases in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,833 points as against previous day’s ending at 45,507 points, showing a decrease of 674.

READ MORE: Stocks fall 105 points on high oil prices, COVID cases

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that bloodbath session was witnessed today due to alarming Covid-19 cases and higher international oil prices.

Market opened on a bleak note and stayed in the red zone throughout the day due to selling pressure from the mutual funds.

READ MORE: KSE-100 observes dull trading on rising COVID cases

Cement sector stayed under pressure due to uptick in international coal prices. In the last trading hour, across the board hefty selling was observed.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-101.1 points), Technology (-98.8 points), Commercial Banks (-73.0 points), E&P (-50.1 points) and Fertilizer (-47.6 points).

READ MORE: Stocks ends flat in volatile trading

Volumes increased from 165.1 million shares to 236.9 million shares (+43.5 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 14.5 per cent to reach US$ 49.2 million as against US$ 42.9 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TRG, TELE, CNERGY and HASCOL.

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