Daily Times

There was an immediate backlash in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a press conference, saying that the government will implement a hefty ‘super tax’ of 10pc on significant enterprises. In less than 20 minutes, the PSX plummeted after dropping 1,598 points to 41,100 at 11:40am., the KSE index took a sharp turn for the worst. The benchmark KSE-100 index was down 2,053 points, or 4.8pc, as of 12pm local time.

According to the PSX Rulebook, all securities are paused if the index is 5pc above or below its last closing for five minutes and stays there.

Stocks began to rise again as it became clear that the administration only intended to enforce it once. There were still 1,665.18 points or 3.9pc of losses on the KSE-100 Index at the end of the trading day. It’s the biggest daily drop since December 2, 2021. (-4.7pc DoD).

The benchmark KSE-100 index finished the day at 41,149.16 points, which is a decrease of 1,567.81 points, or 3.6pc.

Cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizer, LNG terminal, textile, banking, car, tobacco, drinks, and chemicals are some of the industries that have been hit with the super tax. Because the majority of these industries are represented by businesses that are traded on the PSX, investors made a mad dash to unload their holdings in an effort to preserve their financial resources.

Pakistan’s finance minister notified the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) that it had received a $2.3b loan from China that would be used to bolster the country’s dwindling foreign currency reserves.

Banking (404.90 points), oil and gas exploration (220.06 points) and fertilizer (204.06 points) were the industries that dragged down the benchmark index (204.99 points).

In the all-share index, the volume rose from 349.5m on Thursday to 424.23m on Friday. There was an increase in the value of shares traded to Rs12.81b from the previous session’s Rs10.14b.

With 36.67m shares, K-Electric Limited led the pack, followed by Cnergyico PK (25.65) and Pak Refinery (25.3)

On Friday, 364 shares of 364 firms were traded, of which 61 rose, 287 fell, and 16 stayed the same.