PSX plunges 634 points amid economic, political uncertainty

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a significant downturn yesterday (Wednesday) as the KSE-100 index fell by 634.94 points. Market experts attributed this drop to increasing political instability and cautious investor sentiment ahead of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) upcoming policy announcement today.

Stock market gets a much needed boost, jumps 671 points

The benchmark KSE-100 index slipped below the 79,000-point threshold, hitting the day’s lowest at 78,612.16 points before closing at 78,651.79 points. This comes a day after the index posted 671.73 points growth on Tuesday.

The trading session initially showed promise, with the KSE-100 reaching an intraday high of 79,507.17 points. However, this early optimism faded quickly as market pressures took hold.

Analysts said that political uncertainty, weak global markets, investor concerns surrounding proposed legislation on the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and the terms of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, including restrictions on new special economic zones (SEZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) dampened market sentiment.

Pakistan accepts IMF’s ban on new SEZs, EPZs

Market expects the SBP to announce 150-basis-point cut in interest rates in todays monetary policy committee meeting.