The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a dramatic downturn on Friday, with its benchmark KSE-100 index plummeting by 3,702.50 points, wiping out billions from the market in a session marked by intense trading activity.
The key index concluded the day”s trading at 184,129.58, a significant retreat of 1.97 per cent from its previous close of 187,832.08. During the session, the index fluctuated between a high of 188,036.31 and a low of 183,547.29.
Similarly, the KSE-30 index registered a steep decline, shedding 1,261.46 points or 2.19 per cent. It settled at 56,278.51, down from 57,539.97, after navigating a daily range between 57,585.11 and 56,109.85.
Despite the sharp fall in indices, market participation intensified. Overall turnover in the regular market increased to 1.27 billion shares compared to the previous day”s 1.19 billion. The traded value also saw a substantial surge, escalating to PKR 60.36 billion from PKR 44.10 billion.
The broad-based selling pressure resulted in a considerable erosion of investor wealth. The total market capitalisation of the exchange contracted to PKR 20.88 trillion from PKR 21.28 trillion recorded a day earlier, representing a single-day loss of approximately PKR 395.7 billion.
Activity in the deliverable futures contract (DFC) market also saw a notable increase in monetary terms, with traded value climbing to PKR 15.25 billion from PKR 10.19 billion, even as turnover saw a marginal dip to 278.25 million shares.