Investors chose to exit the market on Tuesday after the recent record rally in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), putting the market under pressure, and the benchmark KSE 100 index ended at 177,623 points on the day losing 638 points.
The trading session was a highly volatile one. It hit a peak of 179,123 points at one stage, but later selling was unable to keep the momentum going to sustain it in various sectors. Overall, the index traded within a range of 1,688 points during the day with investors showing cautiousness.
Market data shows over a whopping 950 million shares were traded during the session, valued at Rs 41.5 billion. The total market value (market capitalization) on the other hand fell by Rs 77 billion, followed by a fall in its volume to Rs 19,950 billion.
The market experts say that the trend of investors to take profits was a natural phenomenon after the prolonged bull market run in the recent weeks and hence selling pressure was seen. Though a one day drop will be no game-changer, in coming sessions, the investors would be on the lookout for financial results of companies, economic indicators, interest rates’ expectation and external economic news, they said.
As far as the domestic economic indicators are concerned, if they continue to improve, and investor confidence is there, then the recent downturn may be a temporary phenomenon, but there is the possibility of continued volatility in the short term, analysts said.