KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week with a decline of more than 1,000 points, the biggest single-day fall in over a month.

According to the Karachi-based brokerage firm Topline Securities, it was the highest day-on-day decline since Dec 26.

According to the stock exchange data, the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 1,039.34 points, or 1.63pc, to close at 62,773.72 on Monday.

Monday’s negative session “can be attributed to investors opting to book profits before the announcement of monetary policy and foreign selling”, Topline said.

Later on Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 22 per cent.

It was the third successive drop on the stock market after the index lost 524 points on Thursday and 485 points on Friday, showing that the market has shed over 2,000 points in three straight sessions.

According to analysts, investors resorted to panic selling, driven by ambiguity regarding circular debt resolution and the outcome of the monetary policy meeting.

In the monetary policy committee meeting later in the day, the State Bank decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 22 per cent, in line with market expectations.

Over 317 million shares were traded at the bourse, while total value landed at Rs10.7bn.

K-Electric led the volumes chart with the trading of over 46.6m shares, followed by Pakistan International Airlines (22.9m shares), WorldCall Telecom (21.5m shares), PTCL (15.9m shares), and Treet Corporation (14.5m shares).

Shares registering the biggest increases in their prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs1,000), Sapphire Fibres (Rs97), Pakistan Tobacco (Rs35), JDW Sugar Mills (Rs25), and Indus Motor (Rs19.4).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mari Petroleum (Rs99.2), Siemens (Rs26.4), Faisal Spinning (Rs24.99), Hallmark Company (Rs21.6), and Thal Ltd (Rs20.1).

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2024