KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market closed sharply lower amid post budget consolidation after higher taxes slapped on high earning blue chip corporates, and windfall taxes on banking sector.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the removal of tax credits on insurance, mutual and pension funds kept the bourse under pressure.
“Institutional selling on global equity selloff and slump in the global crude oil prices played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 2.70 per cent, or 1,134.80 points, to close at 40,879.93 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 3.09 per cent, or 496.62 points, to close at 15,567.96 points.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed a bloodbath session today due to high inflationary and post-budget concerns.
“The KSE-100 Index plunged by over 1,179 points as investors were unable to digest the adverse measures announced in the budget. Moreover, rupee continued to decline against the dollar,” he added
“The banking sector stayed in the red zone due to harsh taxation imposed in the budget. Institutional investors remained on the sell-side due to redemptions arising from the mutual funds.”
As many as 331 scrips were active of which 50 advanced, 263 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 163.79 million shares, compared with the turnover of 115.87 million shares in the last trading session.
The companies which reflected the highest gains included Millat Tractors up Rs11.89 to close at Rs876.94/share, AL-Ghazi Tractors up Rs11.66 to close at Rs390/share.
The companies which reflected the most losses included Unilever Foods down Rs1,800 to close at Rs23,000/share, and Sapphire Textile down Rs78.83 to close at Rs1,095.67/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in Hum Network with a turnover of 24.56 million shares. The scrip gained 4 paisas to close at Rs7.08/share, followed by Cnergyico PK with a turnover of 6.89 million shares. It shed 15 paisas to close at Rs5.11/share. K-Electric Ltd remained the third with a turnover of 6.52 million shares. It shed 7 paisas to finish at Rs2.55/share.
