KARACHI: The share market plunged by 378 points on Tuesday owing to rising concerns over the exchange rate and rupee depreciation.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,667 points as against the previous day’s close of 45,044 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that market lost further ground today by shedding 451 points during the session and closing -378 points.
Discussions with IMF are still ongoing with the hope of near-term resolution and resumption of the IMF program. Besides IMF program worries, continued pressure on PKR parity with USD has also caused concern amongst investors, especially foreigners who have lately started selling PK equities.
Among technology stocks, Octopus hit the upper circuit, whereas other tech stocks remained under pressure, especially TRG which saw selling pressure despite anticipation of high earnings.
Among scrips, TELE topped the volumes with 30.3 million shares, followed by ANL (19.5 million) and GGL (18.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-170 points), Technology (-99 points), Fertilizer (-45 points), Banks (-23 points) and O&GMCs (-17 points).
Volumes increased from 267.2 million shares to 334.7 million shares (+25 per cent DoD). The average traded value also increased by 34 per cent to reach US$ 79.3 million as against US$ 59.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TELE, ANL, GGL, WTL and BYCO, which formed 30 per cent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MARI (+74 points), UBL (+19 points), HUBC (+18 points), PSEL (+13 points) and EPCL (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-66 points), TRG (-65 points), OGDC (-34 points), SYS (-27 points) and MLCF (-24 points).
