Closing Bell: Index slides yet again; down by 1.04%

The KSE-100 index continues to bleed downward hovering around 41 Thousand levels. Major contribution to the stocks came from TRG +3.57%, ANL -0.37% and HBl -4.62%. The main laggards in today’s session were; HBL -4.62%, SNGP -4.73%, LUCK -2.90%, MCB -1.62% and FFC -2.38% taking away 249 points in total. Energy sector was relatively positive owing to the rising oil prices in the international markets. POL +1.09% and PPL +0.51% closed on positive in anticipations of the upcoming results.

The market may have found new support at 41 thousand bases as it continues to stay within this range. Investors are spooked at the fundamentals driving the economy, as Current Account deficit, debt financing, Rupee Dollar peg continues to pose risks to the economy as a whole. The situation is further worsened by the rising trade balance due to lack of imports.

In addition to this, Pakistan’s political uncertainty has tainted the economy and brought it back to 2014 level. Despite making huge recoveries in the last two years, KSE-100, the benchmark index, has yielded negative returns in the current year. Year to date, PSX has been down more than 8%.

In corporate alerts, Habib Asset Management released financial results for five of its income funds for the year ending June, 2017.

Analysts expect the market to find support at 41 thousand levels and recover slightly in the upcoming session.

KSE-100 Index at the day end lost a total of 431.34 points, closing at 40958.65 points. Index touched an intraday high of 41477.84 points whereas touching a low of 40686.09.

In percentage terms, index was down by 1.04%.