After days of positive momentum, selling pressure returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 lost over 2% on Friday.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 81,939.84.
However, selling pressure in the latter hours provided the bears a space to strengthen their grip and push the index into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 80,117.89, down by 1,721.97 points or 2.10%.
“This significant decline was driven mainly by profit-taking as investors seized the opportunity to lock in gains amid market uncertainty,” brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said in its post-market report.
Selling was witnessed in sectors including banks, fertiliser, power, technology, E&P, cement, and textile.
In a key development, BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, had forecasted that Pakistan is “highly likely” to witness a change of government before the next parliamentary election scheduled for 2029.
“Pakistan’s next parliamentary election is scheduled for 2029. However, it is highly likely that the country will see a change of government before this date,” stated BMI in its Pakistan Country Risk Report for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2024.
“No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office,” it noted.
The report said political risk in Pakistan will remain highly elevated in 2024 and 2025.
On Thursday, positive momentum persisted at the PSX as the benchmark KSE-100 gained 684 points to close at a fresh record high at 81,839.86.
Globally, Asian shares are set to end the week on a sour note, as uncertainty across major economies added to headwinds for investors even as the global rate easing cycle gets under way.
It has been a turbulent week in markets, with a tech sell-off sparked by deepening Sino-US trade tensions, uncertainty over US President Joe Biden’s fate in the presidential race, disappointing Chinese economic data and a lacklustre third plenum outcome casting a shadow over the global mood.
In the foreign exchange market, Tokyo’s recent bouts of intervention also kept traders on edge.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.02% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 278.13, a gain of Re0.04 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 479 million from 470.31 million a session ago.
The value of shares rose to Rs27.85 billion from Rs25.35 billion in the previous session.
Waves Home App was the volume leader with 36.87 million shares, followed by Fauji Fert Bin with 30.67 million shares, and Pak Elektron with 24.82 million shares.
Shares of 446 companies were traded on Friday, of which 91 registered an increase, 305 recorded a fall, while 50 remained unchanged.