Karachi: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) KSE-100 index witnessed selloff for fifth consecutive session and fell over 500 points owing to stalemate between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund with regard to resumption of bailout programme.

At close on Wednesday, KSE-100 Index recorded a decrease of 501.88 points or 1.23 percent to close at 40,376.1. Trading began on mixed note and market remained rangebound, however, final hours of session saw modest selloff which d

ragged KSE-100 Index downward.

All index heavy sectors including automobile, cement, chemical, banking, oil and fertiliser sectors plunged to close in red.

Sectors dragging benchmark KSE-100 Index lower included oil and gas exploration (73.25 points), cement (72.56 points) and technology and communication (61.20 points). Volume on all-share index rose to 148.5 million from 142.8 million on Tuesday. Value of shares traded fell to Rs 3.9 billion from Rs 4.2 billion recorded in previous session.

Fauji Cement was volume leader with 17.5 million shares followed by WorldCall Telecom with 11.1 million shares and Thatta Cement with 9.2 million shares. Shares of 320 companies were traded of which 64 registered an increase, 229 recorded fall and 27 remained unchanged.

Report from Arif Habib Limited stated, “Sentiment soon shifted in favour of bears as market traded in red zone for majority of trading session.” Volumes remained flat across board, with third tier stocks remaining in limelight, report said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 23 2023

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