Rupee devaluation drags index down 605 points
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week in the red, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 605 points to close at 39,666.
The index opened higher but could not sustain the momentum and took a downward path to hit a day's low of 39,396 points towards the session's close.
In all, 147.5 million shares worth Rs6.1 billion were traded at the exchange. Of the 330 scrips traded, 84 advanced, 216 declined and 30 remained unchanged.
Commercial banking sector dominated trading by a margin with 50m shares traded.
The "market couldn't sustain the gains for long as reported foreign institutional selling in the sector dragged the market into red zone. As the day progressed, a drop in Pakistani rupee against US dollar to Rs128/USD took the market off-guard as most steel, autos and cement names witnessed renewed selling pressure by local funds on concerns of lower than expected earning in Fiscal Year 2019," Elixir securities said.
Volumes were led by:
Bank Of Punjab: 25.2m shares traded [-1.48pc];
Fauji Cement Co Ltd: 10.5m shares traded [-4.85pc];
Bank Islami Pakistan Ltd: 9.1m shares traded [+2.66pc];
Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd: 5.9m shares traded [-3.37pc];
K-Electric Limited: 5.7m shares traded [-3.02pc].