KARACHI: Bears reclaimed control over the Pakistan share market on the back of the absence of positive news from the economic and corporate front and on expectations of downgradation of Pakistan’s capital market in MSCI’s upcoming review. The delay in resolve between Pakistan’s financial managers and International Monetary Fund also made investors cautious ahead of the weekend.
The Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) ended the day 359.18 points (0.75 per cent) down at 47,603.36 points against the previous closing of 47,962.54 points. The market went as high as 48,040.10 points during intra-day trading, while recorded as low as 47,475.81 points.
Trading volumes increased to 761.42 million shares today as compared to 638.8 million shares during the previous trading day, while the daily traded value moved up to Rs21.74 billion from Rs16.37 billion in the previous session, the data said.
KSE-100 Index showed decent recovery support of buying on dips by the investors at the early hours of the trade.
However, some appreciation in prices and the benchmark index provoked investors to book profits.
The investors seem not ready to keep their portfolios above the safe levels until a deal between the IMF and the Pakistani government.
On the other hand, the report that MSCI may downgrade the status of Pakistan’s capital market to Frontier Market from Emerging Market also hurt investors’ confidence.
According to the news, MSCI has started consultation on a market reclassification proposal for the MSCI Pakistan Index to be reclassified from Emerging Market (EM) to Frontier Market (FM).
The share price of Pakistan Services increased by Rs58.14 to Rs900, while Nestle Pakistan gained Rs55 to Rs5,815. On the other hand, Sapphire Textile lost Rs37.50 today to close at Rs872.50 while Abbott Lab. lost Rs27.56 to close at Rs752.44.
