The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended loses on Tuesday as the latest round of rupee depreciation pushed the benchmark index down by over 200 points.
The rupee once again surpassed 184-mark, closing at Rs184.44 to the US dollar in the inter-bank market earlier in the day, weakening by nearly Rs2, from Monday’s close of Rs182.54. The fresh depreciation prompted renewed stock selling as investors reacted with panic to the latest development. As a result, the KSE-100 index, after a brief upward opening, dropped to an intra-day low of 46,287.9 points. Financial results announced during the day failed to entice the market participants and the index closed in the red zone. At the close, the KSE-100 index lost 206.23 points, or 0.44%, to settle at 46,333.36 points.
Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted that the market witnessed profit taking today, KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but couldn’t sustain in green zone as investor opted for profit selling across the board due to weakening of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar. It further stated that main board activity remained dull but hefty volumes were recorded in third-tier stocks. Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (-89.2 points), exploration and production (-72 points), technology (-51 points), power (-42.6 points) and cement (-37.2 points). Shares of 345 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 94 scrips closed in the green, 226 in the red, and 25 remained unchanged. Overall trading volumes dropped to 228.62 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 255.60 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.83 billion.
Cynergico PK Limited was the volume leader with 18.32 million shares traded, losing Rs0.35 to close at Rs6.14. It was followed by Ghani Global Holdings with 18.02 million shares traded, losing Rs1.39 to close at Rs19.36 and WorldCall Telecom Limited with 11.54 million shares traded, losing Rs0.05 to close at Rs1.80.
