Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Index shed 600 points Monday to close at 36,922 levels, down 1.6 percent.
Pressure was seen in the market over political noise as the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated about Delhi planning more military action against Pakistan in the third week of April.
An equity analyst at IIS Securities said the KSE-100 index remained under pressure throughout the session Monday. The negative sentiment was mainly driven by Foreign Minister’s statement and the World Bank, in its latest report on South Asia, revised Pakistan’s macroeconomic forecasts with FY19 growth rate to slow down to 3.4 percent in current fiscal year while inflation is expected to stay at 7.1 percent for FY19 before increasing to 13.5 percent in FY20.
PSX made an intraday high of +31 points and intraday low of -783 points. Traded volumes remained low with 107 million shares exchanging hands. Top volume stocks were K-electric (KEL) with 4.8 percent decline and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) with 5.1 percent loss that cumulatively contributed more than 20 million shares.
Hammering was also witnessed in the cement sector where FCCL (-5.1%), CHCC (-5%), DGKC (-5%), MLCF (-5%) and LUCK (-5%) all closed at their respective lower circuits. Moreover from the Exploration and Production (E&P) sector, Pakistan Oil Fields (POL) losing 1.0 percent, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) losing 0.9 percent and Oil Gas Development Company (OGDC) losing 1.1 percent closed in the red despite oil prices edging higher in the international market.
An equity analyst Maaz Mulla expects equity market to remain negative due to the geopolitical concern with India and recommends investors to stay cautious.