Profit-taking ended the record-breaking rally of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) wiping out all intra-day gains as the benchmark KSE-100 Index plummeted over 500 points on Wednesday.
According to the PSX website, the market kickstarted the session with a bullish note and touched the historic high of 91,872.63 level in the early hours of trading.
Around 03:00 pm, the benchmark index had fallen to 90,182.16, a decrease of 681.93 points or 0.75%.
At the day’s end, the index settled at 90,286.56 points, with a decline of 577.53 points or 0.64% from the previous close of 90,864.09 points.
In the early hours of trading, the market witnessed widespread buying in index-heavy fertilizer, power generation, oil and gas exploration firms, oil marketing companies, automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals and commercial banks.
The PSX has remained bullish during recent weeks mainly due to positive corporate results and anticipation of another rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which ignited investor confidence.
Many economists expect the SBP to cut its key policy rate by 200 basis points in its upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for November 4, 2024.
This would be the fourth consecutive reduction since June.
The PSX posted a net gain of 5.6% last week, with the KSE-100 index reaching its highest-ever closing of 89,993.96 points, just shy of the 90,000 mark.
This was the highest weekly return in 27 weeks and the 47th-highest weekly return since the index’s inception.
