Stocks bleed as KSE-100 index clocks in at 110,988 points
Business
Profit-taking believed to be the cause behind steep fall
KARACHI (Dunya News) – Sharp selling persisted in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) which otherwise was trading in green. The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost nearly 3,900 points, after momentarily crossing 116,000 in the morning on Wednesday. Profit-taking is believed to be the cause behind steep fall.
Two days after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reduced the policy rate by 200 basis points to bring it down to 13pc in its last meeting on Dec 16 (Monday), the stocks got a new catalyst.
Earlier, the PSX had already been scaling new peaks with every passing day.
The latest rate cut proved another shot in the arm of the stock market as the benchmark KSE-100 index gained more than 1300 points during the opening hours of trading on Wednesday, hovering at 116,165 points against previous close of 114, 860 points when it witnessed a steep decline of 1308 points.
Buying was all the rage in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery, while selling pressure was witnessed in commercial banks and the power generation sector.
It must be noted that this was the fifth successive policy rate cut since June 2024 when the rate was 22pc.
