The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a reversal of fortunes on Tuesday after days of gains as the new government is actively seeking a lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to oblige its global repayment obligations.
According to the PSX website, the market opened on a positive note and the benchmark KSE-100 reached a day’s high of 66,134.84 points in the initial hours of trading.
However, the index could not sustain its upward trajectory due to selling pressure and plunged by over 400 points to touch a low of 65,500.07 during the intraday trade.
Finally, the KSE-100 index closed at 65,726.04, dropping by 225.68 points or 0.34%.
The market saw widespread selling activity, especially in heavyweight stocks such as OGDC, PPL, PSO, and SNGPL, which dragged the index down.
Market analysts attributed the selling to profit-taking by investors.
The newly sworn-in Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, instructed his team to kickstart negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) without any delay.
“Expect the market to consolidate around current levels until the new coalition government begins talks with the IMF for a new loan program to support the economic recovery,” said IMS Securities.
On Monday, investors welcomed the news of the formation of a new government, with the KSE-100 Index gaining 626.04 points or 0.96% to close near the 66,000 level.
