KARACHI: The Pakistan stock market began on a gloomy note on Friday, with a selling trend as investors stayed away due to uncertainties surrounding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
“During trading hours, selling was seen across the board as investors continue to await definitive news flow on financial help from the recently visited countries and the IMF program,” a Pearl Securities analyst said.
The KSE-100 shares Index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange fell 0.90 percent, or 408.60 points, to settle at 44,840.81 points. The KSE-30 Index dropped 0.96 percent, or 165.98 points, to settle at 17148.53.
The ready market volume was 189.44 million shares, compared to 325.46 million shares traded in the previous trading session.
According to an expert at Arif Habib Limited, the market began in the red zone following a week of vacation, with investors remaining on the sidelines due to the rupee’s parity with the dollar.
He noted that speculations of a policy rate rise in the next monetary policy put investors’ confidence under strain.
Siemens Pak gained Rs34.99 to settle at Rs624.99/share, while Millat Tractors gained Rs30.78 to close at Rs955.71/share.
Colgate Palm, which fell Rs77.40 to Rs2,055.10 a share, and Nestle Pakistan, which fell Rs75 to Rs5,800 per share, were the two businesses that suffered the biggest losses.
Summit Bank had the greatest volume, with 25.74 million shares changing hands. Unity Foods Ltd came in second with a transaction of 18.23 million shares, gaining 23 paisas to settle at Rs2.72/share. It rose 69 percent to Rs24.31 per share. Cnergyico PK remained the third with a turnover of 9.12 million shares. It finished at Rs6.11/share, down 24