KSE-100 falls 0.36% as investors panic over high inflation reading

The two-day rally came to an end at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday and the KSE-100 index fell 0.36% as investors panicked over the historically high inflation reading in Pakistan.

The consumer price index (CPI) based inflation in Pakistan clocked in at 27.3% in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis, the highest since the first half of 1975.

As a result, the KSE-100 index offloaded 150.97 points or 0.36% to end at 42,309.11 points.

KSE-100 rises 0.26% on receipt of IMF tranche

Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the inflation reading to stay on the higher side throughout fiscal year 2022-23.

Trading began on a mixed note and the KSE-100 remained range-bound throughout the day. The market ended the first session flat however, the sell-off intensified in second session and accelerated the losses.

All index-heavy sectors including automobile, cement, banks and oil sectors closed with losses.

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX closed last trading session of the week in red.

“Indices slipped lower for most part of the day, whereas volumes depreciated from last close,” the report said. “CPI reaching an all-time high as well as news of inflation rising further due to floods dented investors’ confidence despite release of the loan tranche from IMF.”

A report from Topline Securities stated that range-bound session was observed at the exchange as index traded between its intra-day high of 109 points and intra-day low of -151 points.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 south included oil and gas exploration sector (47.23 points), banking sector (16.13 points) and automobile parts and accessories sector (15.54 points).

Volume on the all-share index dropped to 160.1 million from 248.2 million on Thursday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded plunged to Rs4.63 billion from Rs8.02 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 11.9 million shares, followed by Flying Cement with 9.7 million shares and Silk Bank with 8.9 million shares.

Shares of 344 companies were traded on Friday, of which 130 registered an increase, 193 recorded a fall, and 21 remained unchanged.