KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) despite opening in positive fell under a bearish spell because of the disturbing political situation and worrying statistics from the ongoing third wave of COVID-19. The selling pressure pushed KSE-100 Index to retreat from near 44,500 points psychological barrier.
Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) lost 81.04 points (0.18%) to 45,230.18 points against the previous closing of 45,311.22 points. The market went as high as 45,445.77 points during intra-day trading, while recorded as low as 45,176.76 points.
Trading volume inched up to Rs347.6million shares today as compared to Rs341.8m traded in the previous session, according to PSX website data. The daily traded value declined to Rs12.6bn from Rs16.4bn in the previous session.
The market remained in positive just for an hour at the start of the day and breached the 44,500 points barrier to 45,445 points level however the selling pressure pushed it in to negative to 45,241 points before noon. Market despite several attempts to regain momentum failed to end the day in positive.
The protests and related political disturbance was already keeping the investors cautious, while the rise in COVID-19 infections for the third consecutive day added to the worries, analysts and traders said. On the other hand the correction was expected at the psychological barrier was almost touched today, they added.
According to National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Pakistan recorded over 100 single-day deaths for third consecutive day with the in COVID-19 cases across the country, the number of critical patients has reached 4,276.
The share price of Sapphire Textile increased by Rs61.05 to Rs875.05 while Nestle Pakistan gained Rs41.49 to Rs5,851.49. On the other hand, Bhanero Textile lost Rs54.90 today to close at Rs895 while AKD Capital lost Rs35.01 to close at Rs440.11.
