KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on a bearish note as the KSE-100 Index witnessed a decline of 174.07 points, or 0.38 per cent, in the first hour of trading on Monday.

The local equity market on Friday closed lower in the post-earnings season on global equities selloff and slump in the global crude oil prices. The rupee recorded a fall against the USD, due to uncertainty over Pak-IMF resolve for resumption of the IMF programme and concerns over lower weightage in the MSCI FM index played a catalytic role in the bearish close.

“The market remained under pressure last week because of macro-economic concerns, including expectations of high inflation and monetary tightening. Moreover, uncertainty over resumption of the IMF programme also kept investors at bay, the current decline in index is the continuity of the same sentiments,” an analyst said.

“The reclassification of Pakistan by MSCI from the Emerging Markets (EM) to Frontier Markets (FM) also had a negative impact on the bourse,” he added.