KARACHI: Bears maintained control of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, in line with the previous session, as the market reacted to the impact of political uncertainty.
The index fell below the 43,000-point mark on the back of a worsening political situation, coupled with poor economic data due to geopolitical tensions in international markets and rising commodity prices.
At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index tumbled 388.62 points, or 0.90%, to 42,873.35.
Political instability has affected the investment climate after opposition parties decided to submit a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan at the National Assembly Secretariat.
Uncertainty in the international crude oil market and forecasts for benchmark interest rates also contributed to the bearish momentum.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced later after the meeting that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had decided to keep the policy rate at 9.75% for the next six weeks.
In its post-listing comments, Arif Habib Limited noted that a volatile trading session was observed today due to political turmoil and an overheated commodity cycle.
“The market opened in the red zone and was under pressure throughout the day,” it said, adding that the cement industry remained in the red zone due to rising international coal prices.
Meanwhile, there was a sell-off across the board in the last trading session.
Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (-85.8 points), cement (-67.7 points), exploration and production (-62.1 points), power (-37.3 points) and oil marketing companies (-34 points).
Shares of 343 companies traded during the conference. At the close of trade, 102 stocks closed in green, 223 closed in red, and 18 were unchanged.
Overall trading volume fell to 226.10 million shares, compared with 236.88 million shares on Monday. Shares were valued at Rs 7.12 crore on the day.
TPL Corporation topped the list with 17.35 million shares traded and closed at Rs 10.46 in a loss Re1. It was followed by Unity Foods, which traded 17.18 million shares at a loss of 1.49 rupees to close at 23.64 rupees; Ghani Global Holdings, which traded 16.9 million shares at a loss of 0.87 rupees, closed at 15.83 rupees.
