Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange ended on a negative note on Monday, with the KSE-100 index closing at 170,506.31 points after a decline of 609.51 points.
According to data released by the exchange, the index recorded a decline of 0.36 percent. During the trading day, the index reached a high of 171,304.11 points, but due to selling pressure, a low of 169,583.45 points was also seen. The market opened at 170,279.54 points, while the total trading volume of the shares of the companies included in the index was 634.15 million shares.
According to analysts, investors preferred to take profits after the recent rally, which resulted in significant selling in the banking and cement sectors.The market was most negatively affected by the shares of United Bank Limited, which lost 298.35 points in the index. In addition, Lucky Cement lost 147.45 points, Engro Holdings lost 106.39 points, Meezan Bank lost 61.67 points, while National Bank contributed 52.76 points.
On the other hand, K-Electric was a prominent company supporting the market, which added 80.10 points in the index. TRG Pakistan, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Systems Limited and Engro Fertilizers were also among the stocks showing positive performance. According to financial experts, uncertainty persists in the market as investors await the upcoming monetary policy, inflation data and global economic trends.He said that although the market is under pressure in the short term, investors’ confidence may be restored if fundamental economic indicators improve in the long term.
According to the data, the KSE-100 index has shown a 35.72 percent increase since the beginning of the financial year, but is still down 2.04 percent in terms of calendar year.Local brokerage houses say that institutional investors are still interested in the energy, technology and fertilizer sectors, while short-term pressure is being seen in the banking sector.
According to experts, the stability in the value of the rupee, improvement in foreign exchange reserves and increase in foreign investment can be positive signals for the market.
Stock market observers have advised investors to be cautious and focus on long-term investments in fundamentally strong companies.