KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-index lost 155.53 points to stand at 29940.27 points and volume of 5,708,428,194 shares on Thursday, as the market added to yesterday’s losses.
Earlier, the market opened on a negative note and kept on losing points, as the bearish trends added to the overnight losses. The stocks could not gain momentum as profit-taking took over the bourse and the benchmark index fell below 30,000 level.
The investor preferred profit-taking and remained cautious about the market’s direction.
On Wednesday at close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.16% or 47.97 points to end at 30,095.80.
The highest increase witnessed in price of the Pace (Pak) Limited, P.T.C.L.A, D.G.K.Cement XD and Fatima Fertilizer Company, while the Pak Services, Bata (Pak) Limited, Bhanero Tex.XD and Wyeth Pak Limited remained the biggest losers of the day.
As a whole 27.44 percent of companies witnessed increase in their shares while 30.25 percent lost their share value and 4.46 per cent companies remained stable.
Financial experts attributed the negative trends to various challenges the country is facing and the weeks-long political stalemate. The political uncertainty was triggered by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Azadi march and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s Inqilab march. Both Imran Khan’s PTI and Dr Tahirul Qadri’s PAT have been staging sit-ins in the federal capital in front of Parliament House, demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation for “what they called” worst rigging in the May 11, 2013 general elections.
On the other hand, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had assigned PTI lawmakers separate dates to appear before him and confirm they are quitting the lower house of Parliament ‘on their own free will’, on which party’s general secretary Jahangir Tareen had written to the speaker that all PTI MNAs will appear before him together to confirm their resignations.