The benchmark KSE-100 Share Index fell more than 600 points in the early trading hours on Monday with the intraday low of 39,465.51 before recovering some points, marking a two-month low
KARACHI (Pakistan Point News / Online - 10th February, 2020) The benchmark KSE-100 Share Index fell more than 600 points in the early trading hours on Monday with the intraday low of 39,465.51 before recovering some points, marking a two-month low.The Index opened at 40,150.34, whereas it closed at 40,143.63 on Friday.At 11.09am, the Index stood at 39,554.95, down 588.68 or 1.47pc as confusion and uncertainty surrounds potential investors due to several persisting factors.
The stock market in the previous week followed similar trend and lost massive 1,487 points or 3.6pc, representing the highest weekly decline in recent months during which the market regained much stability, and dropped to 40,143.63 at close on Friday.A staggering sum of Rs276 billion was wiped off the market capitalisation at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in five-day trading sessions of the last week. Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading $4.
1 million worth of shares.Investors adopted extremely cautious behaviour after more headlines cover mounting deaths due to coronavirus taking full hold, a plunge in global crude oil prices, unchanged main policy rate by the State Bank of Pakistan at 13.25 percent for the next two months, uncertain FATF's decision and political uncertainty in the country.The SBP in the latest monetary policy statement kept the interest rate unaltered and pushed selling in the leveraged sectors such as cement and steel.
Concerns over higher than expected reading of inflationary pressures and political uncertainty sparked by coalition partners of the government also kept investors away from the market.Moreover, the outcome of Financial Action Task Force in the upcoming review remained unclear. Several reports claimed that the substantial progress was made to pull the country out of the grey list, but Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar noted it was premature to speculate on any outcome.They were also spooked by uncertainty over the decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Pakistan status to be decided later this month and the country's ability to pull itself out of the grey list. Investors were also rattled over the inflation figures for January which came out at an alarming 12-year high of 14.6pc.
