Pakistan’s equity market fell by more than 2% on Tuesday as multiple terrorism incidents in the country and a dampened economic outlook unnerved the investors.
Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started on a positive note on Tuesday as the market gained almost 2,000 points on Monday. However, the momentum failed to sustain as the market lost as many points by noon.
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed the day at 157,871, a decline of 3,668 points or 2.27%.
Trading volumes increased to 291 million shares today as compared to 225 million shares in the previous session. Commercial banks, oil and gas exploration, and cement sectors were the major laggards in today's session, cumulatively making up 1,721 points shed from the index.
The market stayed in the red zone throughout the session as investors adopted a cautious stance amid heightened geopolitical tensions following a terrorist attack in Pakistan’s northwestern province and a bomb blast in the capital, Islamabad.
The volatile security environment hurt investor confidence, triggering aggressive profit-taking and dampening overall momentum.
An analyst at Ismail Iqbal Securities said that the market was weighed down by the security situation in the country.
Despite the day’s setback, the broader market remains up 37% since the start of the year, with much of the gain driven by strong performance in financial and energy scrips. The benchmark had earlier reached an all-time high of 168,990 points on October 3.
Comments
See what people are discussing