Stock exchange crashes by 1,654.47 points

The bears let all hell break lose in the stock market on Tuesday as it fell by 1,654.47 points to close the day down by 3.47%.

Economic uncertainty with several manufacturing firms submitting information on plant shutdowns and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data of Large Scale Manufacturing witnessing a 5.49% decline, government refusing to issue letters of credit, delays in the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the impending political crisis in the country with the expected dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government saw screens of traders turn red at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.

The market opened at 39,720.75 after a murderous day at the stock market on Monday.

After some initial optimism, and some semblance of stability in the opening session, where the index rose to a high of 39,942.28 points – some investors were hopeful that the index would climb above the psychological barrier of 40,000 points.

But after the KP government confirmed that they would be dissolving the assembly later today, the index crashed by 862.99 points, going from a level of 39,720.90 points to 38,857.91 points in the span of just 90 minutes.

The index couldn’t recover after that, and suffered a second crash in the second session of 572.44, falling from 38,860.25 to a day low of 38,287.81.

The index, though closed at 38,342.21, cumulatively down 3.47% or 1,378.54 points.

It was down 6.06% year on year.

This was a 52-week low for the index.

The last time the index was at this level was on June 27, 2020, when the index stood at 38,221.16 points in an upward trajectory, at the peak of which it rose to 48,726.08 points on June 14, 2021.

The KMI 30 index plunged by 3,132.34 pts closing at 64,821.48. While the KSE All share index fell by 842.43 pts settling at 25,991.65.

Overall market volumes surged from 105.39 million shares in the previous session to 204.64 million shares.

Companies showing highest contribution to the volume chart included, K-Electric Limited (KEL -8.81%), Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL -3.51) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGP -5.46%). The scrips had 29.06 million shares, 14.48 million shares and 9.67 million shares traded, respectively.

Sectors painting the benchmark KSE 100 index in red included, Technology and Communication sector (242.53 pts), Oil and Gas Exploration sector (237.60 pts), and Banking sector (196.58 pts). Company-wise, Systems Limited (SYS 146.57 pts), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL 85.20 pts) and Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK 85.15 pts), were top negative contributors.

The Cement sector lost 6.09% in its cumulative market capitalization. Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK 6.79%), Bestway Cement Limited (BWCL 2.59%), Kohat Cement Company Limited (KOHC 6.92%) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL 4.28%), all closed in red.