540-point plunge takes index below 40,000 level
Karachi: The PSX witnessed a selling spree for the fourth session in a row on Thursday which pushed the KSE-100 index below the 40,000 points to settle at 39,987.31 falling by 539.50 points (1.33 per cent).
Fear gripped investors as the uncertainty on the political front deepened as confrontational political rhetoric between PML-N and PTI intensified close to the D-day (Nov 2). Investors dumped their positions across the board to reduce exposure in stocks.
Foreign investors seized the opportunity to buy stocks worth $8.70m at attractive levels. Among local participants mutual funds decided to take profit through sale of equity worth $10.18m mainly to protect their capital-protected funds.
Overall, volumes declined by 10.3pc to 384m shares, while value decreased by 3.9pc to Rs12.4bn over the earlier day. “Major participation was once again prominent in 2nd and 3rd tier names but this time around a whopping number of scrips, 67 to be precise, closed on their lower circuit limits”, said analysts at Intermarket Securities.