Bears pull index below 34,000 in outgoing week.

KARACHI -- The stock market traded during the outgoing week between hope and despair, which eventually let loose the bears that dragged the KSE-100 index down by 1,172 points (3.4 per cent) and settle at 33,439.

Early in the week, investors` mood remained clouded over budget 2020-21, which set aside almost all proposals of the bourse endorsed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and of fered next to nothing for the capital market.

Market also contested the ambitious revenue collection target of Rs4.9 trillion as no new taxes were imposed. Investors were spooked all through the week as they stared at the mounting Covid-19 infected cases and death numbers. The news flow over a breakthrough in the discovery of a drug for virus treatment briefly improved sentiments which also boosted prices of pharmaceutical shares.

In the last three days, politics took centre stage as Balochistan National Party-Mengal announced it was quitting the PTI-led coalition government in the centre.

Investors also kept an eye on the border skirmishes between China and India that left their mark on regional markets.

On the economic front, the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar by 1.5pc; the massive contraction of large scale manufacturing by 42pc year-on-year and 33pc month-on-month for April gave an insight into losses. More disappointments resulted from the decision by authorities to clamp lockdown on pandemic hotspots in most cities including Karachi.

The fortnightly T-bills auction saw threesixand 12-month yields drop to 7.79pc, 7.48pc and 7.36pc showing a decline of 33,49 and 35 basis points, respectively, which lef t the market speculating over a rate rate cut in the next SBP Monetary Policy announcement.

Foreign selling continued unabated clocking in at $4.8 million compared to a net sale of $7.7m the preceding week...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT