ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday dropped below the 40,000 mark to trade at the lowest level since July 2022 after the benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by over 1,100 points during intra-day trade owing to political uncertainty.
The KSE-100 was hovering at 39,844 points, down 1,126 points or 2.75%, at 2:09pm during intra-day trade. Speaking to media, AA Commodities Director Adnan Agar said the stock market is reacting to all “bad political news”.
“Players are looking for political stability before assuming fresh positions in the market,” he said, adding that any positive news on political front or positive development regarding International Monetary Fund programme will reinstate investors confidence.
Pakistan and the global lender have been holding discussion on the ninth review under $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF). However, differences between both the sides still persist making consensus harder to strike on a staff-level agreement for completion of the review.
Agar further highlighted that market players are also concerned about the future of the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government while taking into account the current political developments.
The federal government has been thrown off guard after Imran Khan announced that he will be dissolving the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies this week.
“Moreover, constant depreciation of rupee against the US dollar is adding fuel to the downtrend,” he said, mentioning that the investors are unhappy with how Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is handling the rupee-dollar parity.
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