- Commercial banking sector lost 1.82pc from its total market capitalisation following a report regarding change in its outlook
KARACHI: Failing to sustain gains that were accumulated in the morning, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the day in red. Indices which opened positive soon took a U-turn and continued to bleed all day long. Foreign investors closed the last four trading sessions as net buyers with a net inflow of $12.17 million.
As per news reports, Finance Minister Asad Umar, while addressing the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Peshawar, said that the government has come closer to reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Moreover, he stated that Pakistan is also focusing on boosting trade with Iran and Afghanistan besides working on a Strategic Economic Draft to strengthen economic ties with Turkey. He added that the state is trying to simplify current tax procedure in order to widen the tax net and that the government is in talks to bring PayPal to Pakistan.
With a positive start, KSE 100 benchmark index touched its intraday high (up by 188.91 points) of 41,076.26 soon after the commencement of the session. The index then rebounded to reach its day’s low of 40,218.37 (down by 668.98 points) before finally settling lower by 560.82 points at 40,326.53. The KMI 30 index lost 1,040.35 to end at 67,385.40, while KSE All Share index depreciated by 353.55 points, closing at 29,299.25.
The overall market volumes were recorded at 134.41 million (down by 21pc) with K-Electric Limited (KEL -2.19pc) leading the volume chart. The script had 15.50 million shares exchanging hands. KEL was followed by Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL -4.03pc) and Azgard Nine Limited (ANL +2.84pc) with 7.85 million and 5.51 million shares swapping hands respectively.
On the economic front, Moody’s Rating Agency has changed its position for the banking system from stable to negative. As per the published report, the operating conditions of the banks will be difficult as real GDP growth rate is expected to slow down to 4.3pc.
Following the news, the commercial banking sector lost 1.82pc from its total market capitalization. Habib Bank Limited (HBL) was down by -2.46pc while MCB Bank Limited (MCB) declined by -1.60pc. Bank AlFalah Limited (BAFL -2.54pc), United Bank Limited (UBL -2.14pc) and Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited (SCBPL -3.47pc) all ended negative.
