The bearish trend continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday, and the KSE-100 index recorded a decline of more than 902 points. Investors appeared cautious due to selling pressure in major banking and fertiliser stocks in the market.
At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index closed at 165,596.07 points, down 902.76 points from the previous trading day. The market opened at 166,890.04 points, and while a slight improvement was seen during early trading, selling pressure later pushed the market into the negative zone.
The highest level of the index during trading was 166,924.48 points, while the lowest level was 165,291.53 points. A total of 264.75 million shares were traded in the market.
According to market analysts, investors are currently cautious due to concerns about the country’s economic situation and the upcoming budget. They say that fluctuations in interest rates, inflation, rupee value and global oil prices are also affecting the market trend.
ENGRO had the most negative impact, pushing the index down 227.99 points. Shares of UBL, FFC, BAHL and LUCK were also under severe pressure. According to experts, selling by institutional investors affected the overall performance of the market.
On the contrary, SAZEW showed a positive performance and provided support to the index by 65.64 points. MCB, BAFL, POL and BOP also played a limited positive role, but this did not prove to be enough to stop the overall market decline.
According to the data, the FYTD performance of the KSE-100 index was 31.82 per cent positive, which reflects that long-term investors are still interested in the market. On the other hand, the index is down 4.86 per cent on a CYTD basis.
According to financial experts, if the government introduces investor-friendly economic policies and there is positive progress related to the IMF programme, the market may return to bullishness. They say that foreign exchange reserves and inflation figures will also be important for investor confidence.
Brokers have advised investors to avoid emotional decisions and focus on investing in companies with strong fundamentals to achieve long-term returns.