LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured another round of battering on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index falling below 45,000 level for the first time since May.
According to details, the PSX plunged over 1,000 points in intra-day trading as hike of 25 basis points in the benchmark interest rate by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to 7.25 per cent dented investor sentiments.
In addition, the market expects further monetary tightening in Pakistan as signaled by the central bank in its monetary policy announcement on Monday.
Moreover, the slide in global markets on the back of possible default by China’s property giant Evergrande also contributed to the dip.
At 1:07 pm, the KSE-100 index was trading at 44,909.1 points after a fall of 1,099.75 points of 2.39pc.
Overall market volumes inched up from 325.80m shares in last session to 583.45 m shares. Highest volumes were witnessed in Worldcall Telecom (WTL -4.18pc), Worldcall Telecom (ANL -6.67pc) and Hum Network Limited (HUMNL -6.58pc). The scrips had 91.05m shares, 36.19m shares and 34.08m shares traded, respectively.
Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE 100 index lower included Technology and Communication sector (76.55 pts), Oil & Gas Exploration sector (39.77 pts) and Textile Composite sector (38.29 pts). Company-wise, TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG 37.82 pts), Systems Limited (SYS 37.74 pts) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL 24.77 pts) were top negative contributors.
The Refinery sector lost 4.96pc from its cumulative market capitalisation. Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL 4.40pc), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL 4.87pc), National Refinery Limited (NRL 5.83pc) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO 4.68pc) all closed in red.
