Pakistan stock market Friday nosedived due to panic selling in all sectors over investor concerns on depreciating Pak rupee, deal with the IMF and gloomy economic situation. BRIndex100 lost 102.59 points or 2.89 percent to close at 3,442.60 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,545.22 and intraday low of 3,435.30 points. Volumes stood at 81.912 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 701.19 points or 3.93 percent to close at 17,124.42 points with a turnover of 58.095 million shares. The KSE-100 index plunged by 804.50 points or 2.37 percent to close at 33,166.62 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 90.373 million shares as compared to 108.579 million shares traded Thursday.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $6.4 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 133 billion to Rs 6.811 trillion. Out of total 329 active scrips, 286 closed in negative, only 31 in positive while the value of 12 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 15.343 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.33 to close at Rs 3.67 followed by Pak Int. Bulk Terminal that declined by Re 0.45 to close at Rs 7.59 with 5.603 million shares. Pak Tobacco and J.D.W. Sugar were the top gainers with Rs 29.39 and Rs 12.63, respectively to close at Rs 2,522.03 and Rs 269.64. Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers with Rs 325.50 and Rs 60.00, respectively to close at Rs 6,184.50 and Rs 7,189.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 55.28 points or 0.68 percent to close at 8,039.85 points with total turnover of 12.444 million shares.BR Cement Index declined by 111.19 points or 3.85 percent to close at 2,775.06 points with 8.045 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 138.79 points or 3.43 percent to close at 3,910.29 points with 4.772 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 39.56 points or 5.04 percent to close at 746.05 points with 5.682 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 4,522.30 points, down 224.44 points or 4.73 percent with 17.611 million shares. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks fell across the board as rupee depreciation and uncertainty over SBP policy on discount rate impacted the investor sentiments at PSX. He said rupee free fall against dollar, falling FX reserves, likely surge in SBP policy rate announcement on May 20 and concerns over IMF conditions, targets on federal budget FY19 played a catalyst role in bearish close.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that bloodshed was witnessed at the local bourse as the KSE-100 index made an intraday low of negative 965 points to close at 33,167 level, down 805 points. Pressure was witnessed after the Pakistani rupee declined against US dollar in the interbank market as it hit a new high of Rs 150. Furthermore The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is expected to further tighten the monetary policy stance on 20th May 2019 by increasing policy rate by 50-100 basis points (bps) to curb aggregate demand and ensure microeconomic stability.
FFC (down 4.7 percent), ENGRO (down 2.9 percent), PPL (down 2.8 percent), POL (down 3.3 percent) and BAHL (down 1.7 percent) were among major laggards. Investor''s lost confidence for a second consecutive day in the cement sector where DGKC (down 5.0 percent), CHCC (down 5.0 percent), PIOC (down 5.0 percent), MLCF (down 5.0 percent) and FCCL (down 6.2 percent) all closed limit down. E&P sector remained under the hammer where POL (down 3.3 percent), PPL (down 2.8 percent) and OGDC (down 2.3 percent) closed in the red zone.