Stock market sheds 753 points on concerns over coronavirus spread

Stock market sheds 753 points on concerns over coronavirus spread

KARACHI: The stock market fell by 753 points on Monday as investors seen uncertain about the fast spread of coronavirus in the third wave.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 43,548 points as last Friday’s closing of 44,301 points, showing a decline of 753 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market took a major slide of 830 points during the session and closing the session -753 points.

Although overall leverage has come down, the stocks which sustained high levels of leverage positions (including NETSOL, TRG, ATRL and NRL) came crashing down after failing to make forward move.

Besides lockdown concerns due to rapid spread of Corona in Punjab, investors became perturbed due to IMF conditionalities (post resumption of Program) that hints of rising cost of production for the industries as well as withdrawal of tax exemptions that has seen no end, unless the matter is deliberated and finalized in the Finance Act  (i.e. upcoming Budget).

Selling pressure was witnessed across the board, with major contribution from Technology & Banking sector stocks. Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 24.3 million shares, followed by DSL (24.3 million) and SILK (20 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (-142 points), Banks (-136 points), Cement (-88 points), E&P (-60 points) and Textile (-48 points).

Volumes increased from 266.8 million shares to 302.8 million shares (+13 percent DoD). Average traded value on the contrary declined by 7 percent to reach US$ 87.3 million as against US$ 93.6 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, DSL, SILK, BYCO and PRL, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (+44 points), KAPCO (+5 points), EFUG (+3 points), HCAR (+1 points) and ABOT (+1 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-94 points), SYS (-47 points), HBL (-42 points), LUCK (-41 points) and UBL (-32 points).