KSE-100 falls for 4th straight session as economic worries nag

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index fell for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, a slide driven by rising economic concerns among investors.

The KSE-100 started marginally positive, hitting an intra-day high of 46,857.88. However, profit-taking erased the gains.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 46,244.56, down by 525.86 points or 1.12%.

In last four session, negativity has persisted over the market, with investors concerned over rupee’s free fall against the dollar, skyrocketing fuel prices that will push inflation up, and growing fears of another rate hike.

Rumours of an emergent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting contributed to the decline on Wednesday, brokerage house Ismail Securities stated in the post-session report.

Power generation and distribution, oil and gas exploration companies, and technology and communication sectors were major laggards, according to the brokerage house.

On Tuesday, the KSE-100 had fallen by 708 points amid fears of a policy rate hike and rupee’s depreciation.

On the economic front, Pakistani rupee continued to depreciate as it dropped to yet another record low against the US dollar, settling at 304.45 in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the rupee was down Rs1.40 or 0.46%, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 200.29 million from 217.85 million on Tuesday.

The value of shares increased to Rs8.987 billion from Rs8.281 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 16.32 million shares, followed by K.Electric Ltd. with 12.42 million shares and Dewan Motors with 12.11 million shares.

Shares of 327 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 70 registered an increase, 240 recorded a fall, and 17 remained unchanged.