The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a negative session on Thursday, as its benchmark KSE-100 closed the session lower by 147 points.
The index swayed in both directions, hitting an intra-day high of 78,241.02 and intra-day low of 77,595.93.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 77,740.31, down by 146.68 points or 0.19%.
The market’s downtrend was driven by declines in sectors such as E&P and banking, with significant contributions from companies including UBL, BAFL, MARI, PPL, and BAHL, which together accounted for a 229-point drop, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Wednesday, the KSE-100 suffered a dramatic fall in the final 60 minutes of trading with analysts saying that an inability to access real-time share prices led to some panic selling after Pakistan saw massive disruption in internet services.
In a key development, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday said the government would “move forward” with structural reforms in key sectors as it cannot “defer this agenda” anymore.
Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the Head Office Building of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the finance minister reiterated that under the umbrella of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government would move forward with structural reforms in taxation, energy, State-Owned Entities (SOEs) and privatisation.
“We have to move forward because we do not have the space and the room anymore to defer this agenda,” he said.
Pakistan’s weight is likely to increase in the upcoming Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Quarterly Index Review (QIR), which is scheduled to be announced on August 12, 2024.
“Pakistan weight may increase by 35-45 basis points (bps),” said Topline Securities in a report. “It may go to 4.7-4.8% from 4.2-4.3%,” Topline said, following the addition of a number of scrips and “increase in market capitalisation of existing constituents by ~9%.”
In its notice to the PSX, Hascol Petroleum Limited reported a loss of Rs1.74 billion in the first three months of 2024 (January-March), compared to a loss of Rs7.1 billion reported in the same period last year (SPLY).
Bank Alfalah saw its consolidated profit jump to Rs12 billion during the quarter ended June 30, 2024, nearly 53% higher than its earnings in the same period of the previous year.
Globally, Asian shares rallied on Thursday, tracking a huge revival in global tech stocks helped by Meta and Nvidia, while prospects of imminent policy easing in the US boosted global bonds and commodities.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady overnight but opened the door to a cut in September.
That had traders wagering that the Bank of England might cut later in the day, with the probability of a move at 60%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.7%, after ending July mostly flat.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.66, a gain of Re0.08, against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 279 million from 382.6 million a session ago.
The value of shares declined to Rs13.09 billion from Rs14.64 billion in the previous session.
Hascol Petrol was the volume leader with 26.70 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 21.82 million shares, and Waves Home App with 13.52 million shares.
Shares of 433 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 172 registered an increase, 198 recorded a fall, while 63 remained unchanged.
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