The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a negative session on Thursday, as its benchmark KSE-100 closed the session lower by 147 points.
The index swayed in both directions, hitting an intra-day high of 78,241.02 and intra-day low of 77,595.93.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 77,740.31, down by 146.68 points or 0.19%.
The market’s downtrend was driven by declines in sectors such as E&P and banking, with significant contributions from companies including UBL, BAFL, MARI, PPL, and BAHL, which together accounted for a 229-point drop, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Wednesday, the KSE-100 suffered a dramatic fall in the final 60 minutes of trading with analysts saying that an inability to access real-time share prices led to some panic selling after Pakistan saw massive disruption in internet services.
In a key development, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday said the government would “move forward” with structural reforms in key sectors as it cannot “defer this agenda” anymore.
Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the Head Office Building of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the finance minister reiterated that under the umbrella of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government would move forward with structural reforms in taxation, energy, State-Owned Entities (SOEs) and privatisation.
“We have to move forward because we do not have the space and the room anymore to defer this agenda,” he said.
Pakistan’s weight is likely to increase in the upcoming Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Quarterly Index Review (QIR), which is scheduled to be announced on August 12, 2024.
“Pakistan weight may increase by 35-45 basis points (bps),” said Topline Securities in a report. “It may go to 4.7-4.8% from 4.2-4.3%,” Topline said, following the addition of a number of scrips and “increase in market capitalisation of existing constituents by ~9%.”
In its notice to the PSX, Hascol Petroleum Limited reported a loss of Rs1.74 billion in the first three months of 2024 (January-March), compared to a loss of Rs7.1 billion reported in the same period last year (SPLY).
Bank Alfalah saw its consolidated profit jump to Rs12 billion during the quarter ended June 30, 2024, nearly 53% higher than its earnings in the same period of the previous year.
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