The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish session on Monday as investor sentiment remained cautious about the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a loss of over 1,100 points.
During the day, profit-taking was observed across key sectors, including energy and manufacturing, dragging the KSE-100 to an intra-day low of 161,766.61.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 162,163.81, a decline of 1,140.32 points or 0.7%.
Major contributors to the decline included PSO, LUCK, UBL, MARI, and PPL, which collectively dragged the index down by 505 points.
The MPC of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in line with market expectations, decided on Monday to keep the policy rate unchanged at 11% on Monday.
The PSX ended the previous week on a subdued note as early optimism over easing geopolitical tensions was overshadowed by profit-taking, weak quarterly results in the banking sector, and caution ahead of the futures rollover week.
The KSE-100 lost 0.3% week-on-week, closing at 163,304 points.
Globally, Asian stocks surged and the dollar meandered on Monday as signs of easing trade tensions between China and the US buoyed risk appetite, in a strong start to a week that will be headlined by central bank meetings and megacap earnings.
Top Chinese and US economic officials hashed out on Sunday the framework of a trade deal for US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to decide on later this week in their eagerly anticipated meeting in South Korea.
A trade deal would pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, helping soothe investor nerves that were frayed due to escalating trade tensions between the world’s top two economies.
That sent stocks sharply higher, with South Korea’s KOSPI and Japan’s Nikkei adding more than 2% each and crossing landmarks to record highs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.3%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local currency settled at 281.01, up by Re0.01 against the US dollar, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,006 million from 1,041 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs34.82 billion from Rs35.02 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 164.29 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 123.43 million shares, and B.O.Punjab with 61.77 million shares.
Shares of 479 companies were traded on Monday, of which 157 registered an increase, 277 recorded a fall, and 45 remained unchanged.
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