Early Trade: KSE-100 drops by over 400 points

June 03, 2022 (MLN): Continuing selling momentum from the previous session, the Pakistan Stock exchange (PSX) on Friday extended losses in early trade due to a key decision taken by the government regarding fuel prices which was one of the major IMF conditionalities. The benchmark KSE-100 Index has lost 440 points and is currently trading at 41,797 [10:14 PST].

Yesterday, the federal government increased the price of petrol and diesel by Rs30 per litre to Rs209.86 per litre.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said, "The gradual removal of subsidy on fuel is inevitable to strike a deal with IMF as per the agreement made by the previous government."

The bearish sentiments among investors also stemmed from a jump in trade deficit by 7/12% MoM/YoY to $4 billion in May 2022.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) on Thursday downgraded Pakistan’s outlook to negative from a stable which also shattered investors' confidence.

Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE-100 index downwards include Fertilizer, Commercial Banks, Cement and Technology & Communication as they have lost 67, 63, 44 and 39 points, respectively.

Company-wise, the scrips of MTL, EFERT, ENGRO and LUCK have endured the maximum losses.

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