Alam Zeb Khan
ISLAMABAD: The 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish trend on Monday, losing huge 602.70 points with a negative change of 1.49 percent, closing at 39,720.75 as compared to 40,323.45 points the previous day. Last Friday the Stock Exchange also closed with a bearish trend of losing more than 500 points.
A total of 105,542,468 shares were traded on the first day of the week against 173,264,646 shares the previous day, while the price of shares stood at Rs 3.203 billion against Rs 4.628 billion on Friday.
As many as 314 companies traded their shares in the stock market, where 65 companies recorded gains and 228 witnessed losses, whereas the share price of 21 companies remained unchanged.
The three top-trading companies were WorldCall Telecom, Hascol Petrol, and Lotte Chemical with 8,960,962 shares at Rs 1.14 per share, 7,841,500 shares at Rs 6.58 per share, and 7,656,818 shares at Rs 28.03 per share respectively. Those companies having stable stature mostly avoided new trade because of the volatility of the market.
Shahtaj Textile recorded an increase of Rs5.90 per share price, closing at Rs 104.90, while the runner-up Archroma Pak witnessed an increase of Rs 4.92 in its per share price to Rs 439.92.
Nestle Pakistan witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 251.00 per share closing at Rs 5,399.00, followed by Bata (Pak) with a decrease of Rs 125.02 to close at Rs 1,725.00.
Pressure on Pakistan Stock Exchange
Economy experts attributed the ongoing continuous decline in the Pakistan Stock Exchange to different reasons. It included the current political unrest, the difference in dollar rates (open and Interbank), and the delay in finalizing talks with IMF for releasing the next tranche.
Some experts are criticizing Ishaq Dar for holding the value of the Pakistani Rupee against the dollar artificially while not allowing it free to float according to market sentiments and international standards.
According to them, such an action of the finance minister has resulted in a difference of more than Rs 40 in the exchange rate of dollars in the interbank and open market.
As a result, overseas Pakistani are preferring to send remittances via Hundi (illegal chain) instead of legal chains. They are of the view that among all these, immediate talks with IMF may bring down the pressure on the PSX in the coming days.
