PSX undergoes minor correction as KSE-100 falls below 67,000

Shares of 335 companies were traded on Monday, of which 139 registered an increase, 176 recorded a fall, while 20 remained unchanged.

PSX undergoes minor correction as KSE-100 falls below 67,000

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) underwent minor correction on Monday, as investors opted for profit-taking following successive record highs last week.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 67,304.37.

However, the index soon witnessed a selling spree that continued till end of the session.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 66,796.32, down by 208.79 points or 0.31%.

On Friday, the KSE-100 closed lower by 137 points as traders took a breather after the index hit a record high.

Last week, the KSE-100 hit a record high of 67,142.12, which the market attributed to the advancement in the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and progress on a new IMF bailout programme.

In a key development, Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 20.7% on a year-on-year basis in March, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Monday, lower than the reading in February when it stood at 23.1%. On a month-on-month basis, the reading was up 1.7%.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local unit settled at 277.94, up by Re0.01 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 238.83 million from 313.03 million a session ago.

The value of shares decline to Rs8.4 billion from Rs9.9 billion in the previous session.

P.I.A.C.(A) was the volume leader with 40 million shares, followed by Agritech Limited with 31.10 million shares, and P.T.C.L. with 21.23 million shares.