KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a lacklustre start to the week, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,100 points intraday owing to growing concerns over the country’s economic growth.
According to World Bank, Pakistan may fall into recession for the first time in 68 years, as the country’s economy is expected to shrink to 2.2pc.
Meanwhile, analysts believe that the ongoing tussle between some industries and the government also added to negative sentiments at the bourse.
The KSE-100 Index remained in the negative territory throughout the session, marking its intraday low at 30,928.16 after losing 1,105.04 points. It ended lower by 1,000.22 points at 31,032.99.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 1,743.62 points to close at 48,845.35, while the KSE All Share Index lost 587.21 points, settling at 22,108.25. Of the total traded shares, 46 advanced and 238 declined.
The overall market volumes were recorded at 153.59 million, of which 126.27 million belonged to KSE-100 scripts.
Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL -1.98pc), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF -6.85pc) and Pioneer Cement Limited (PIOC -5.30pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 16.97 million, 12.70 million and 8.35 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that painted the benchmark index red included banking (-254.16 points), power generation & distribution (-149.21 points) and cement (-111.44 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC -126.81 points), Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO -57.48 points) and United Bank Limited (UBL -51.82 points) dented the index the most.
The power generation & distribution sector lost 5.57pc from its total market capitalization, with Kot Addu Power Company Limited (KAPCO -5.23pc), Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited (EPQL -6.78pc), K-Electric Limited (KEL -3.45pc) and Nishat Power Limited (NPL -4.90pc) ending significantly lower.
