On Thursday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange experienced lukewarm conditions as the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 591 points during afternoon trading. The index fell below 40,000 and settled at 39,868. The decline has been attributed to political uncertainty in the country. However, after a few hours, the index went above the 40,000 mark and reached 40,034 points.
According to Director CFA Society Pakistan Raza Jafri and Director Arif Habib Corporation Ahsan Mehanti, the political turmoil has affected the stock market and local currency. They pointed out that unsettled conditions had shaken the confidence of investors.
Meanwhile, the local currency continued to lose value against the US dollar for the third consecutive day. During the intraday trading, the dollar reached Rs228 against the Pakistani rupee but then settled at 226.81.
Interbank closing #ExchangeRate for todayhttps://t.co/UvkvZjtlJ4 pic.twitter.com/KWQwiIEdpC
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) July 21, 2022
Ali Malik, Chief Executive of First National Equities Limited, said that the rupee may further lose value if institutions did not take necessary measures.
