Selling pressure persists: KSE-100 loses over 1,500 points

Bearish sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 index lost nearly 1,500 points during trading on Tuesday.

At 10:45am, the benchmark KSE-100 was hovering at 60,185.34 level, a loss of 1,519.75 points or 2.46%.

Across-the-board selling was witnessed as index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas marketing companies, oil and gas exploration companies, refineries and pharmaceutical traded in the red.

At close on Friday, volatility persisted at the bourse amid some rise in political uncertainty as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost nearly 1,000 points to settle at 61,705.09

Experts say the selling pressure comes on account of correction after the Pakistani market showed impressive growth in recent weeks, pushing the index to record high levels of over 66,000.

“Fast (much-needed) correction after non-stop rally,” Mohammed Sohail, CEO Topline Securities, said in a post on Tuesday. “High leveraged position with year-end affecting market trends,” he added.

In a key development, the Sindh High Court (SHC) suspended the SRO 1588(I)/2023 of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which has imposed a 40% additional tax on windfall income of banks.

Despite the recent losses, Pakistan equities performed exceptionally well and provided hefty gains of 53% outperforming other major asset classes during calendar year 2023.

Investment in US dollar, Naya Pakistan US$ Certificate under Roshan Digital Account (RDA), gold, and T-bills also remained attractive investment avenues for local investors, experts said.

Globally, Asian stocks traded tentatively on Tuesday as investors were still digesting data released on Friday that showed US prices fell in November for the first time in more than 3-1/2 years, underscoring the economy’s durability.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.18% higher, on course for a 1.6% gain this year. Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.07% but remains the best-performing Asian stock market with a 27% gain for the year.

Trading is likely to be thin on the day after Christmas with several markets, including those in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong closed for the Boxing Day holiday.