The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a negative session on Monday as its benchmark KSE-100 Index failed to sustain a bullish beginning and closed lower by over 300 points.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 76,209.97.
However, profit-taking kicked in in the latter hours and pushed the index into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 75,575.26, down by 303.22 points or 0.40%.
The negative trend was influenced by the IT, banking, and fertiliser sectors, with companies such as SYS, FFC, EFERT, MEBL, and ENGRO collectively shedding 219 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Friday, the KSE-100 had gained over 1,000 points on euphoria about the discussions between Pakistan authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a new bailout programme for Pakistan.
In a key development, Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 11.8% on a year-on-year basis in May, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Monday, much lower than the reading in April when it stood at 17.3%. On a month-on-month basis, the reading decreased to -3.2%.
Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), the country’s largest hydrocarbon exploration firm, said it had achieved a significant enhancement in oil and gas production from its wells located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.
In a notice to the PSX, OGDC said the company had commenced production from its new development well Chanda-7, located in district Kohat, KP.
Asian markets rallied and the dollar weakened on Monday as a closely watched US inflation gauge dipped in April, reviving hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable, depreciating 0.01% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.36, a fall of Re0.03 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 441.26 million from 523.3 million a session ago.
The value of shares declined to Rs18.63 billion from Rs20.57 billion in the previous session.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 32.83 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 31.65 million shares, and PIA Holding Company with 25.57 million shares.
Shares of 427 companies were traded on Monday, of which 200 registered an increase, 178 recorded a fall, while 49 remained unchanged.