KSE-100 index falls by more than 6,400 points

Karachi: Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday came under intense selling pressure, as a result of which both the benchmark KSE-100 index and the KMI-30 index closed with significant declines. Cautious investor strategy, profit-taking activities and selling by large investors kept the overall trend negative.

According to official market data, the KSE-100 index opened at 178,112.05 points, and the initial level proved to be the highest level of the day. During trading, the index reached a low of 173,349.42 points and finally closed at 173,518.82 points, recording a significant decline of 6,408.23 points or 3.56 percent throughout the day.

The total trading volume of shares of companies included in the market was 409.23 million shares, while the index’s performance since the beginning of the year was 3.76 percent negative and 0.31 percent down on a calendar year basis.

According to the statistics, UPFL was the only share that played a significant positive role in the day’s trading, while UBL, ENGRO, FFC, LUCK and MEBL were among the companies that had the most negative impact on the index.

At the same time, the KMI-30 index was also under severe pressure. The index opened at 251,217.02 points, which was also the highest level of the day. During the trading, it fell to a low of 243,992.99 points and closed at 244,367.91 points. Thus, the index recorded a significant decline of 9,164.01 points, or 3.61 percent.

The trading volume of shares of companies included in the KMI-30 index was 157.85 million shares, while the index went into the negative zone by 5.04 percent since the beginning of the fiscal year and 1.68 percent during the calendar year.

According to market data, ENGRO, LUCK, MEBL, OGDC and FFC were the prominent shares that added the most negative points to the KMI-30 index and contributed significantly to the overall market decline.

Market experts say that the selling pressure was seen on a relatively broad basis in the recent session, which shows that investors are cautious due to short-term uncertainty. According to them, economic indicators, expectations related to fiscal policy and corporate results can play an important role in determining the direction of the market in the next few trading sessions.