KARACHI: The bearish trend further intensified at the Pakistan Stock Exchange till midday as the benchmark 100-index dropped huge 878 points to reach 50577 points level on Wednesday.
Earlier, the stocks again opened bearish and also lost 51,000 mark after shedding 483 points to drop to 50970 points level in early trading.
On Tuesday, the PSX benchmark shares index slid further, declining by 686 points as investors queued up sell orders at the faintest sign of strength. Volatility ramped up to 1.96 percent with the index clocking in a high of 52,476 points early in the session and subsequently slumping to a low of 51,453 points towards the end. Total 382 active companies participated in the session of which 79 concluded in positive, 294 in negative while 9 remained unchanged.
Concerns for higher tax levies on steel and cement sectors and weak MSCI EM status led foreign flows played a catalyst role in major fall at PSX, market participants said. Participation ticked up as volumes increased 16 percent d/d to 234 million shares, while traded value rose 26 percent to Rs16.3 billion.
