KARACHI: After ending the previous session with decent gains, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) was back in the grip of bears on Thursday.
The indices plunged following news of Pak rupee dropping to its all-time low of Rs148.50 against US dollar in the interbank market. The latest devaluation caused renewed selling as investors reacted with panic to the development.
Losing 716.80 points, the KSE 100 index benchmark nosedived to its intraday low of 33,574.85. It ended lower by 320.53 points at 33,971.12. The KMI 30 index declined by 486.38 points or 0.90pc to close at 53,806.29, while the KSE All Share index depreciated by 207.97 points, ending at 25,077.44. The advancers to decliners ratio stood at 51 to 245.
The overall trading volumes declined further from 110.88 million in the last session to 108.58 million. K-Electric Limited (KEL -5.21pc), Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIBTL -8.01pc) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -9.31pc) led the volume chart. The scripts had traded 14.60 million shares, 6.91 million shares and 6.50 million shares respectively.
On the economic front, Pakistan’s trade deficit surged by 22pc to $2.66 billion in April 2019 as compared to $2.18 billion in the same period last year. The increase was mainly due to a rise in imports, which went up by 14.39pc to $4.75 billion in April as compared to $4.16 billion in March. Exports also improved by 5.81pc from $1.98 billion in the preceding month to $2.09 billion.
Furthermore, the monetary policy is expected to be announced on Monday through a press release, according to a notification issued by the State Bank of Pakistan. In the previous monetary policy, the interest rate was increased by 50 basis points to 10.75pc.
