Political uncertainty rattles Pakistan equities, KSE-100 falls 777 points

Uncertainty amid noise from the domestic political front kept the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in the red zone, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index ending the final trading session of the week down 777 points.

During the day, the indices kept slipping, with the benchmark dropping to an intra-day low of 42,987.86 (down by 819 points), as the index hovered near its 52-week low.

At close, it ended with a drop of 777.26 points, or 1.77%, to settle at 43,029.97.

"The uncertainty at the political front and parliament moving closer to the vote of confidence motion dented investors’ confidence,” said Capital Stake in a note.

PTI workers barge into Sindh House

On the economic front, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) saw 6% growth during the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year (FY22).

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that Pakistan fetched FDI amounting to $1.257 billion during July-Feb of FY22 compared to $1.185 billion in the same period of last fiscal year (FY21), showing an increase of $72.4 million.

Meanwhile, the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the week recorded a decrease of 1.37% WoW (Highest WoW decline since 02-Apr-2020) and an increase of 15.12% YoY.

Bourse fails to sustain gains, KSE-100 Index down 0.4%

Sectors dragging the benchmark index down included banking (174.70 points), technology and communication (155.70 points) and oil and gas exploration (145.4 points).

Volume on the all-share index increased significantly to 180.44 million, from 148.51 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded also improved significantly to Rs6.39 billion from Rs2.99 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 13.49 million shares, followed by Ghani Global Holdings with 10.05 million shares, and K-Electric Limited with 8.83 million shares.

Shares of 335 companies were traded on Friday, of which 64 registered an increase, 256 recorded a fall, and 15 remained unchanged.