Shares plunge 352 points as economic uncertainty weighs down sentiment

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange ended the day in the red on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index facing resistance at the 40,000 mark, closing at 39,802.91 — down 352 points or 0.88 per cent.

Fahad Rauf of Ismail Iqbal Securities said the investor sentiment was generally weak due to the delay in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

“However, specifically, today the fertilizers stocks were under pressure due to news regarding GIDC (Gas Infrastructure Development Cess) recovery,” he told Dawn.com.

On Monday, the government had decided to use all the administrative and legal resources to recover Rs447 billion GIDC from commercial and industrial entities that had blocked due payments through high courts despite standing orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan for recoveries.

“Examining the court’s decisions and stay orders, the finance minister expressed serious concerns over the non-recoveries of GIDC dues and expressed the resolve of the government to recover each penny from the defaulters,” an official statement had said.

On the other hand, former PSX director Zafar Moti underlined a number of reasons for the market’s fall. These included political instability, rising terrorism, and rumours regarding an increase in interest rates, petroleum levy, and gas prices.

“All the conditions that IMF has kept […] and the lack of food security that will likely push up inflation is another issue,” he told Dawn.com.

Moti said that reports regarding the dollar being smuggled to Afghanistan were damaging the economy.

He also criticised the government for not being able to systematically handle volatility in the currency market.

“The difference that persists in the interbank and open market [rates] is very concerning. The capital market is once again seeing selling pressure because of these reasons,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dalal Securities CEO Siddique Dalal said the market was down for “obvious reasons”.

“Exports are down, there are restrictions on imports, political instability, the situation in Punjab, and then Shabbar Zaidi’s alarming statement that Pakistan is running out of time to repay external debts […] all the things are adverse.”

Dalal also said that the market was not sustaining.

“The market had seen gains yesterday because of the news on circular debt but has cooled down again today. We are also hoping that the interest rates would increase in the upcoming days and there is a huge difference in the dollar parity,” he stated.

All these reasons, Dalal added, were shattering the investor confidence.