Midday report: KSE-100 in free fall

December 2, 2021 (MLN): The local bourse witnessed a blood bath as the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 1,842.98 points so far [12:37 PST] and currently trading at the 43,526.16- mark as the market is taking pressure on the economical front.

The primary reason for today's market decline is yesterday's T-Bills auction result where cut-off came much higher than secondary market yields, Saad Hashmi, Executive Director at BMA Capital Management while speaking to Mettis Global.

"The market is likely incorporating another hike in the upcoming monetary policy announcement on December 14," he added. 

Arsalan Siddiqui, Head of Research at Optimus Capital told Mettis, "Along with high cut-off yields of T-Bills, the high trade deficit number for November 2021 that was disclosed yesterday further increased the risk of a soaring current account deficit which may put pressure on the currency."

The aforementioned reasons including inflationary pressure, increasing govt paper yields, and currency devaluation risk are building a narrative of further contraction stance in the next monitory policy meeting, he noted. 

Sector-wise, the index was let down by sectors such as cement, commercial banks, technology, & communication, and oil & gas exploration companies as they have combinedly lost over 959.89 points to the benchmark index.

Company-wise, the scrips of LUCK, SYS, HUBC, HBL, and TRG remained the major losers.

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