KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks nosedived on Friday, as the government surprised the market by announcing a 4 per cent super tax on all sectors and an additional 6 per cent tax on 13 sectors specifically. The accumulative super tax stands at 10 per cent. However, it will be a one-off tax for FY22/23, analysts said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that panic selling was witnessed at the PSX across-the-board after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement to impose the super tax on large-scale industries for one year to bridge fiscal deficit gap.

“Falling rupee and likely SBP policy impact of the IMF monetary targets played a catalytic role in the bearish close,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 3.9 per cent, or 1,665.18 points, to close at 41,051.79 points. The KSE-30 shares shed 4.22 per cent, or 690.77 points, to close at 15,662.45 points.

As many as 364 scrips were active, of which 61 advanced, 287 declined and 16 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 424.2 million shares, compared with the turnover of 349.48 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the stocks witnessed a bloodbath session, as the prime minister announced a 10 percent tax on the large-scale industries to shore up revenues and support the country’s poor, amid rising inflation.

“The benchmark KSE-100 Index stumbled to 2,161 points at intraday. The volumes remained healthy, while selling pressure was witnessed across-the-board.”

The KSE-100 Index partially recovered towards the end of the trading session, closing at 41,052 points, down 1,665 points.

The highest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric Limited with a turnover of 36.6 million shares. The scrip gained one paisa to close at Rs2.86/share; followed by Cnergyico with a turnover of 25.8 million shares. It shed 43 paisas to close at Rs5.35. Pakistan Refinery Limited remained the third with a turnover of 25.3 million shares. It shed Rs1.44 to finish at Rs18.1/share.