KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday was dominated by bears that dragged its benchmark KSE-100 index down by 1,800 points, with analysts attributing the losses to “political uncertainty”.
The KSE-100 index closed at 61,065.31 points, down 1878.43, or 2.98 per cent from the previous close of 62,943.74 points.
The highest point today was noted to be around 9:40am where the index reached 62,634.37 points. Meanwhile, the lowest point was noted around 2:50pm at 60,647.67.
It should be mentioned that the index had plunged 1,200 points on Friday over the delay in announcing the results of general elections, to settle below 63,000. Yousuf M. Farooq, director of research at Chase Securities, said that the market opened under pressure today due to “unresolved political uncertainty over the weekend”.
Farooq noted that volatility would remain until there was clarity on the political front.
He highlighted that oil exploration companies “experienced pressure” amid rumors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussing the circular debt resolution plan with the next government.
However, on a positive note, he noted that remittances for the month of January had clocked in at $2.4 billion while a current account surplus was also “anticipated”.
“This could alleviate speculative pressure on the rupee and support the market in coming days.” he said.
Awais Ashraf, director of research at Akseer Research, said, “The delay in the formation of the government due to lack of lack of clear mandate for one party creates uncertainty among investors”.
