Political, economic instability hammer PSX

KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse turned bearish on Tuesday on the back of selling pressure due to prevailing concerns regarding the country’s political and economic uncertainties, analysts said.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that the stock market witnessed selling pressure throughout the day and observed profit-taking as it closed in the red zone with low volumes.

“Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) list of necessary actions and demands that must be carried out within the next 15 to 20 days, have been released in order to restore the long-stalled programme,” he added.

Additionally, the market might respond unfavourably due to former finance minister Miftah Ismail saying that he fears default if Pakistan did not approach the IMF at this crucial time, he remarked.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 352.25 points, or 0.88 per cent, to close at 39,802.91 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 102.19 points, or 0.69 per cent, to close at 14,676.13 points.

As many as 322 scrips were active of which 98 advanced, 212 declined and 12 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 153.74 million shares, compared with the turnover of 146.88 million shares in the last trading session.

Commodities expert Ahsan Mehanti said that the local equity market closed lower on rupee instability and the foreign exchange reserves crisis impacting industrials.

“Political instability, projections over higher inflation in December and concerns over delays in the IMF review due to the rift over petroleum levies and budgeted flood losses, played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.

Going forward, the analysts expect the market to remain under pressure due to the political battle between Punjab and the federal government and unclear economic conditions. Hence, suggest investors adopt the “Sell on Strength” strategy in the upcoming sessions.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Rafhan Maize up Rs559.85 to close at Rs8,024.52/share, and Nestle Pakistan up Rs347.88 to close at Rs5,577.75/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Pak Services down Rs119.90 to close at Rs1,479.10/share, and Colgate Palm down Rs79.83 to close at Rs1,890.17/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Bank Al-Falah with a turnover of 16.33 million shares. The scrip shed four paisas to close at Rs29.96/share, followed by Pak Petroleum with a turnover of 12.46 million shares. It shed 67 paisas to close at Rs61.11/share. Bank of Punjab remained the third with a turnover of 7.70 million shares. It shed 30 paisas to close at Rs4.63/share.

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