Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw its benchmark KSE-100 Index drop over 700 points at Monday’s close due to investor nervousness following the by-elections in Punjab. The benchmark index fell 800 points to an intra-day low of 41,274.62 as investors rushed to unload their positions amid widespread selling.

Closed with a loss of 707.80 points or 1.68pc, the KSE-100 closed at a loss of 4,1367.11. Anxiety among investors was stoked by the unofficial announcement that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the coalition’s leader, had been defeated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which had won the majority of seats in the Punjab Assembly’s 20 constituencies in Sunday’s by-elections.

When he learned of the results of the poll, PTI Chairman Imran Khan reaffirmed his call for free and fair general elections in Pakistan, but under the auspices of a competent Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), warning that “any other route” will lead to additional debacles.

PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif, who is now in London, spoke with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the phone and recommended calling a party meeting to assess the issue further. According to reports, Prime Minister Shehbaz has called a party meeting.

The sentiment is irked by the uncertainty of what will happen next, whether or not there will be elections. The market will stay in a state of uncertainty until the issue is resolved. Adding insult to injury, the Pakistani Rupee fell by roughly 2pc versus the US Dollar on Monday. In the inter-bank market, the local currency fell to a record low of 215.2. Workers’ remittances reached a record $31.237b in the fiscal year 2021-22, an increase of 6.1pc above the previous year’s total of $29.449b.

While everything was going on, the total volume for the S&P 500 rose to 151.35m shares from Friday’s 140.12m. Shares traded fell to Rs4.36b from Rs5.37b the previous day, but their value fell to Rs4.36b. K-Electric Limited came in second with 10.31m shares, while TPL Properties came in third with 8.3m shares, all of which were outnumbered by WorldCall Telecom’s 12.73m shares. This past Monday, the stock prices of 326 different firms were exchanged, with 55 seeing gains, 253 seeing losses, and 18 seeing no change in price.