KARACHI: Pakistan stocks declined by 274 points on Tuesday anticipating hike in benchmark rate in the ahead schedule policy meeting.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell by 274 points to 40,514 points from previous day’s closing of 40,784 points.
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Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that a negative session was witnessed at PSX during the day.
The index opened with positive numbers but sentiments quickly shifted in support of bears as the market proceeded to trade in a red zone during most of the trading session.
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An anticipated rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy and political instability drove the index down to hit an intraday low of 347.77 points as investors’ chose to remain cautious while trading and kept on hunting for value stocks with high dividend yield, whereas decent volumes were observed across the board.
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Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P’s (-150.1 points), Technology & Communication (-93.8 points), OMCs (-42.1 points), Cement (-26.5 points), and Chemical (-11.9 points).
Volumes decreased from 158.1 million shares to 126.3 million shares (-20.1 per cent DoD). The average traded value also decreased by 1.8 per cent to USD 21.6 million as against USD 22.0 million.
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Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are WTL, OGDC, TPLP, HUBC, & TRG.