KSE-100 stocks shed 84 points as investors remain cautious ahead of MPC announcement

• Speculation about a possible interest rate hike by the SBP proved a damper on sentiments at the PSX.
• During the session, 340 companies' shares were traded.
• With mounting inflationary expectations and rising secondary market yields, an across the board sell-off was observed during the day.

KARACHI: Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) was muted on Thursday amid a shifting risk appetite, with investors booking profits ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

Speculation over a possible interest rate hike by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has dampened the overall sentiment at the bourse.

Moreover, expectations of mounting inflation and rising secondary market yields acted as triggers for an across the board sell-off.

Uncertainty regarding the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme and fresh depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar fanned bearish momentum in the market.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index was down 83.92 points, or 0.18%, at 46,110.50 points.

During the session, shares of 340 companies were traded. At the close of trading, 150 scrips closed in the green, 166 in the red, and 24 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 263.5 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 238.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.5 billion.

Merit Pack (R) was volume leader with 42.2 million shares traded, losing Rs0.32 to close at Rs0.05. It was followed by Ghani Global Holdings with 29.1 million shares traded, gaining Rs1.58 to close at Rs33.23, and Service Fabrics with 17.73 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.93 to close at Rs12.87.