Selling pressure persisted at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), following the worst-ever single-day decline as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lowered by over 700 points during the opening hours of trading on Thursday.
At 10:30am, the benchmark index was hovering at 110,360.49, a decrease of 709.80 points or 0.64%.
Key stocks including chemical, commercial banks, power generation and refineries experienced selling pressure. Index-heavy stocks including MARI, HUBCO, NRL, HBL, NBP, MCB and UBL traded in red.
“It is possible that the negative trend continues today,” said Intermarket Securities Limited, in a note.
“Having said that, further downside creates buying opportunity, especially for those investors who missed the recent leg of the rally since late November. Most driving factors for the market – liquidity, falling interest rates and low political noise – remain intact.”
In a key development, the government, Wednesday, introduced a money bill, “Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024,” in the National Assembly to further tighten the grip on non-filers and to generate financial resources for economic development.
Under the said bill, non-filers will be prohibited from purchasing, booking, registration of vehicles over 800cc, acquiring property beyond a specified limit, and making stock purchases beyond a certain threshold.
On Wednesday, massive selling was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as investors resorted to profit-taking with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing at just over 111,000 level after a historic single-day loss of 3,790 points.
Globally, Asian stocks slid, bond yields rose and the dollar was perched near a two-year high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cautioned it would ease the pace of rate cuts in the coming year and investors braced for a Bank of Japan policy decision.
The Fed cut interest rates on Wednesday as expected, but Chair Jerome Powell’s explicit references to the need for caution from here on sent US stocks sharply lower, with Treasury yields surging and traders scaling back bets on rate cuts next year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, plunged more than 1,000 points.
Asian stocks have taken the cue from Wall Street, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 1%. Japan’s Nikkei, fell 1.8%, while Australian shares, tab slid more than 2%.
This is an intra-day update
Source: Brecorder
