ISLAMABAD: Unlike the expectation of traders, the unchanged Policy rate at 22 percent prompted investors to opt for selling in the stock market as the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) went bearish on Monday with a loss of 1,047.71 points (1.44%) to settle at 71,695.03 against the previous day closing of 72,742.74.
The heavy selling pressure took the market down from the 72000 benchmark, a historical high the market captured last week.
Accordingly, most of the leading sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs OGDC, PPL, PSO etc remained in the red zone and opted for selling.
In a major development, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) held the key interest rate unchanged at 22% for the seventh straight session on Monday.
Earlier in June 2023, SBP increased the key interest rate to tackle continued inflationary pressures and meet one of the basic conditions set by the IMF for securing the bailout.
Meanwhile, on Monday, volume on the all-share index went up to 613.31 million as compared to the previous day’s volume of 541.14 million.
The value of shares also increased to Rs26.31 billion from the previous day’s value of Rs22.59 billion.
Hascol Petrol remained the volume leader among the top three trading companies with 60.07 million shares, followed by Fauji Fert Bin as runner-up with 35.17 million shares, whereas Pace (Pak) Ltd settled with 32.65 million shares.
In total, 385 companies traded their shares, 133 registered gains, 231 met a decline, while the share price of 21 companies remained unchanged.
Recent Record Bullish Trend at Pakistan Stock Exchange
During the last couple of months, the 100-index swung both ways, with a dominant bullish trend while setting a number of records, by achieving about 60% in the last 8 months including the last one.
Only in November 2023, the market got over 8000 points while during the last seven months, the market managed to achieve 24000 points.
Meanwhile, the 100-index reached several all-time highs recently as the 100-index achieved the historic 66000 benchmark for the first time in the first quarter of December 2023.
Meanwhile, from December 13, 2023, the index turned bearish while registering a significant fall, first on 20th December (over 2300 points) and then on December 22nd (over 1100 points), again followed by a bloodbath on 26th December 2023, while going bearish by over 2500 points. Later the market turned bullish by over 2900 points followed by another historic bullish run on a single day (1st January) to get over 2200 points. During the last two months, the market kept its bullish momentum till it surpassed the new historic high of 67000 on 28th March, followed by the 70000 mark in early April. In the last two weeks, the market first surpassed the 71000 barrier and then the 72000 benchmark.
