KARACHI
Bad news continues to come in from the Pakistan Stock Index report. From the peak of over 500 points to the wavering mid-day performance the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has been tracking developments on the political front. As the political environment remained clouded with the ongoing investigation over the Panama Case, investors resorted to a cautious approach and preferred profit taking. The benchmark KSE 100 index touched its intraday high of 48,601.75 after appreciation of 530.71 points but the last two hours of trading ripped it all away. The index dropped to an intraday low of 47,484.85 with the loss of 586.19 points.
The red was visibly clear during the last few hours of the day. Political uncertainty, a paradigm shift to MSCI and shorter Ramzan timings led to the decay in points.
The KMI 30 index swayed between a positive 1.11 per cent and negative 1.81 per cent to close down 1.58 per cent at 80,734.39. The KSE All Share index lost 286.90 points to end the session at 33,122.61. The advanced to decline ratio stood at 82 to 268. The Oil and Gas Exploration sector took a hit on its market capitalization 1.53 per cent, oil and gas marketing sector shed 2.25 per cent while the cement sector’s market cap was lower by 1.16 per cent.
The market volumes fell from previous session’s 317.18 million to 255.53 million with Dost Steel Limited (DSL -7.14 per cent) in the lead. A total of 17.60 million shares were exchanged in the script which dropped to its lower circuit breaker price after Tuesday’s announcement of date to commence commercial operations. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -4.91 per cent) followed with 13.60 million shares exchanged.
The State Bank of Pakistan has approved the merger of MCB Bank Limited (MCB -1.67 per cent) and NIB Bank Limited (NIB -1.99 per cent) the banks informed the Exchange.
