PSX loses 363 points to close at 41,776 points
According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the rupee depreciated sharply by Rs2.45 to close at an all-time low of Rs210.2 against the dollar from Friday’s close of Rs207.75. In the open market the greenback was trading at Rs214 as of 4:50pm. Meanwhile, Zafar Paracha, general secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, said that the market was under severe distress but the authorities seemed to be oblivious to it. “It seems as if another condition put forward by the IMF is the devaluation of rupee because no one seems to care about it and there’s silence everywhere.”
He cautioned that if this trend persists, Pakistan could head towards a default like Sri Lanka. “It is extremely crucial for the government to take steps or else the country will default.” According to SBP, Pakistan’s reserves have fallen by another $234 million to close just below $15 billion. The central bank’s share in these reserves is just under $9 billion.
Meanwhile, the KSE 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday witnessed bearish trend, losing 363 points, a negative change of 0.86 percent, closing at 41,776.98 points against 42,140.76 points on the last working day. A total of 162,112,379 shares were traded during the day compared to the trade of 282,931,441 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 4.910 billion against Rs 9.059 billion on last trading day.
