KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Tuesday’s session on a negative note, as a visible rate hike syndrome continued to weigh on investor sentiment following the central bank’s tightening stance.

During the session, the market touched an intraday high of 169,313.91 and a low of 168,170.74, reflecting persistent selling pressure throughout the day. Ultimately, the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 1,085.12 points, or 0.64%, to close at 168,412.23. 

Stocks remained under pressure from the opening bell, extending the previous session’s bearish momentum in an otherwise quiet trading environment as investors continued to absorb the impact of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to raise the policy rate by 100 basis points.

Read More: PSX drops 1,174 points on rate hike anxiety

Selling remained relentless in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and power generation, dragging the index lower.

Amid cautious participation, the overall tone of the market stayed fragile, with investors wary of the implications of higher borrowing costs on corporate profitability and economic growth.

Overall trading volume increased to 1.1 billion shares from Monday’s total of 780.2 million. Shares of 482 companies were traded. Of these, 168 rose, 284 fell and 30 remained unchanged. Cnergyico PK was the volume topper with trading in 265.6 million shares, rising Rs0.68 to close at Rs8.73.