KSE-100 falls as Pakistan's first suspected Omicron case sparks lockdown fears

• At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index falls by 328.03 points to close at 43,518.84 points.
• Talk of a likely lockdown to be imposed in certain areas of Karachi weighed on investors’ sentiment.
• Shares of 332 companies were traded during the session.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again closed deep in the red on Thursday with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing over 300 points.

The benchmark index, after midday, succumbed to pressure in the wake of news that Pakistan may have detected its first COVID-19 case of the Omicron variant. Talk of a likely lockdown to be imposed in certain areas of Karachi weighed on investors’ sentiment.

Investors remained cautious throughout the trading session as the bourse faced selling pressure amid a lack of positive triggers and an uncertain political and economic outlook.

Moreover, the market players preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the monetary policy announcement scheduled next week.

A depreciating Pakistani rupee, which broke all previous records by closing at Rs177.61 against the US dollar, and anticipation of a higher-than-expected current account deficit restricted the investors from taking fresh positions.

Today, at the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index shed 328.03 points, or 0.75%, to close at 43,518.84 points.

A report from Topline Securities reported noted that investors’ sentiment dampened on the news regarding a suspected Omicron case that emerged in the country, “paving the way for another possible cycle of smart lockdowns in the [affected] areas”.

Shares of 332 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 72 scrips closed in the green, 237 in the red, and 23 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 200.5 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 233.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.7 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 25.7 million shares traded, gaining Rs1.34 to close at Rs95.05. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 13.3 million shares traded, losing Rs0.76 to close at Rs14.81, and Hascol Petroleum with 12.53 million shares traded, losing Rs0.37 to close at Rs6.33.