Bears made a strong return to the trading floor at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as the benchmark KSE-100 index plummeted over 1,700 points due to high selling pressure.
Analysts attributed selling pressure to recent political developments that have prompted investors to engage in profit-taking, after a 28% rally at the PSX over the year.
According to the PSX website, the market opened with an upward trend and reached its all-time high of 81,939.83 points but soon the benchmark index plunged over 1,200 points due to high selling pressure.
At 12:00 pm, the trading was suspended when the KSE-100 was hovering at 80,633.76. It further plunged to 80,292.33 after resuming at around 02:00 pm and shed 1,535 points.
At day’s close, the KSE-100 settled at 80,117.89, down by 1,721.97 points or 2.10% from the previous close of 81,839.86 on Thursday.
Major sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, cement, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, and OMCs, experienced selling pressure. Most index-heavy stocks such as OGDC, PPL, HBL, NBP, and MCB traded in the red zone.
On Friday, shares of 446 companies were traded. Among them, 91 saw an increase in their share prices, 305 experienced a decline, and 50 remained unchanged.
In a recent development, BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, forecasted a likely change in Pakistan’s government before the next parliamentary election in 2029. “No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office,” noted the BMI report, highlighting high political risks for 2024 and 2025.
Trading volume on the all-share index climbed to 479 million, up from 470.31 million in the previous session. The total value of shares traded increased to Rs27.85 billion, compared to Rs25.35 billion in the prior session.
