KSE-100 drops below 38,000 as political and economic hurdles trigger weak sentiments

December 27, 2018 (MLN): The KSE-100 index lost 364 points by the end of today’s trading activity. It opened on a positive note and went up to 242 points briefly, and eventually landed below 38,000 mark at 37,853 points by the end of the session. The fall was attributed to continuous decline in oil prices, as they plummeted by USD 53.70 per barrel level, which was last witnessed in Jun-17.

The market witnessed a selling-spree also because of weak investor sentiments triggered by IMF, as it has asked government to curtail budget deficit to 4%-5% of GDP if it wants to move ahead with the program.

On political front, things turned uglier after government decided to put former President, Asif Ali Zardari’s name in Exit Control List.

Commercial Banks, Cement and fertilizer sectors remained under pressure as they shed 249 points collectively, whereas the scrips of LUCK (-3.49%), HBL (-2.19%), BAHL (-3.72%) and ENGRO (-2.06%) endured the maximum losses.

The index jiggled between an intraday high of 38,460 points and an intraday low of 37,701 points, engulfed within a range of 758 points, Nearly 69 million shares were traded today for the scrips listed on the benchmark index with their total value recorded at Rs 3.7 billion.

The KSE All Share index exhibited a similar position and lost around 151 points by the day end and closed in at 28,358 points.

Over 103 million shares of the scrips listed within the broader KSE All Share Index were traded today, with their value recorded at Rs 4.5 billion.

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