· A bloodbath session was witnessed at the PSX today. The State Bank of Pakistan unexpectedly raised interest rates by 100 basis points during the post-close session of the previous business day, shaking investors’ confidence. As anticipated the benchmark KSE-100 index opened in the negative zone and shed 972.79 points in the intraday. Investor participation remained active throughout the day, with 3rd tier stocks seeing the most activity.

· The Index closed at 42,071.34 pts, down by 865.39pts (-2.02% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-204.7pts), E&P’s (-114.8pts), Commercial Banks (-110.1pts), Fertilizer (-78.4pts), Technology & Communication (-53.5pts).

· Volumes increased from 177.3mn shares to 244.4mn shares (+37.8% DoD). The average traded value also increased by 15.1% to USD 31.1mn as against USD 27.0mn.

· Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are KEL, WTL, DFML, HASCOL, and CNERGY.

Courtesy – AHL