Daily Times

Higher coal costs and concerns over Pakistan’s categorisation by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) led the benchmark KSE-100 Index to a three-month low on Tuesday, even as volumes increased slightly at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Pakistan is expected to be reclassified from the Emerging Markets Index to Frontier Markets by MSCI on Wednesday morning.

With a final score of 46,729.96, the KSE-100 fell 188.56 points (0.40 percent). The index has fallen to its lowest level since May 27. During the first hour of trading, the benchmark KSE-100 gained 76.32 points, reaching a high of 46,994.84. However, it was once again met with resistance around the 47,000 mark.

Oil and gas exploration (39.26 points), as well as vehicle assembling, reduced the advances of the KSE-100 index (31.53 points).

There was an increase in volume on the all-share index from 417.85 million on Monday to 423.75 million on Tuesday. As a result of the session, the value of shares exchanged fell to Rs11.29 billion from Rs12.03 billion the previous day, a slight decrease.

It was followed by Kohinoor Spinning, with 33.72 million shares, and Pakistan International Airlines, with 29.77 million shares, as the top three companies by volume.

The stock market traded 520 businesses on Tuesday, with 129 companies reporting gains, 373 reporting losses, and 18 remaining unchanged.

According to Topline Securities’ post-market commentary, “The cement sector experienced aggressive selling due to rising coal prices,” which resulted in a 1.45 percent decline on average for the day.