ISLAMABAD, JULY22: The benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped below the 79,000-point barrier on Monday during the trading session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), capping a roughly 2% loss that was brought on by the nation’s growing political unrest. The KSE-100 closed on weaker volume at 78,539.19, down 1,578.70 points or 1.97%.Following a sharp decline on Friday when the KSE-100 fell by more than 2%, the benchmark index hit an intraday low of 78,404.76. There was little to no recovery.
Over the weekend, the negative feeling persisted, pushing the index down due to widespread selling in industries including commercial banks, cement, automotive assemblers, chemical, oil and gas exploration businesses, and OMCs. Stocks with a high index weight, such as OGDC, PPL, PSO, SHEL, SSGC, HBL, MCB, and NBP, all saw negative trading.
Political tensions are reportedly on the rise as the government considers outlawing the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), according to experts. Many, however, also feel that a correction was long overdue because the KSE-100 had been performing well ever since the budget removed any additional capital market taxes.
Investors will now be keeping a tight eye on political developments, but they will also be paying some attention to the monetary policy announcement that is expected to come on Monday, July 29. The central bank has not yet released an official schedule until this report has been completed.
Ahead of a jam-packed week of corporate earnings that should test the absurdly high prices of tech companies, Asian equities walked gingerly on Monday on a global scale. Investors are hoping that a significant reading in US inflation will reduce the likelihood of a September rate decrease.
The news that US President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the election race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic ticket seems to have caught investors off guard, with Nasdaq futures rising 0.5% and S&P 500 stock futures nudging up 0.3%, the markets appeared unfazed by the news. Ten-year bond yields decreased by 2 basis points to 4.22%, while 10-year Treasury futures increased by 3 ticks.
The largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan decreased 0.2% after falling 3% the previous week due to a general aversion to risk. The benchmark index for South Korea fell 0.4%, while the Nikkei in Japan fell 0.6%.In the meantime, the value of the Pakistani rupee decreased slightly vs the US dollar on Monday’s interbank market, losing 0.06% of its value. The currency decreased by Re0.17 versus the US dollar to close at 278.30.
The all-share index’s volume dropped from 479 million to 375.6 million just one session earlier. In the previous session, the value of shares increased to Rs27.85 billion, but it now stands at Rs19.35 billion. With 33.44 million shares, K-Electric Limited led the volume, followed by Pak Elektron (23.56) and PIA Holding Company (19.21) in that order.On Monday, there were 446 firms with traded shares; 80 saw increases, 319 saw decreases, and 47 saw no change.
