KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks hit a 21-month low to close below the level of 40,000 points on Thursday, as the rupee touched the historical low of 227/dollar in the interbank market, dealers said.
An analyst at Pearl Securities said the ongoing political uncertainty kept dragging the market sentiment, wherein, the Punjab chief minister’s election would take place on Friday.
“Likewise, the officials suggest that the second phase of the local government elections has been rescheduled, previously scheduled on July 24. As a result, the market made an intraday high of 117 points and a low of 658 points to close at 39,832 points, down 628 points, or 1.55 per cent.”
The All Share volumes during the day remained slightly high to stand at 158 million, up 12 per cent, compared with 141 million shares traded last week.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the bearish activity was witnessed at the PSX with thin trade on political noise and dismal earnings outlook, amid record falling rupee and a surge in the energy prices.
“The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new conditions on the assurance over $4 billion Saudi funding ahead of the release of $1.7 billion tranche and uncertainty over the funding of friendly countries played a catalytic role in the bearish close.”
The dealers said the benchmark KSE-100 Index witnessed a bloodbath session due to the economic and inflationary concerns along with the rupee depreciation against the dollar.
The market opened in the positive zone but the investors opted for selling, which dragged down the index. The volumes continued to remain dull across-the-board, while on the contrary, decent volumes were observed in the third tier stocks.
The major volume leaders were WorldCall Telecom (WTL) with 16 million shares, TPL Properties with 12 million shares, Unity Foods with 10 million shares and Cnergy with 8 million shares.
“Going forward, we expect the market to take direction after the ease in the political pressure and recommend investors to stay cautious and avail the current downside, as a buying opportunity in the blue-chip stocks.
