Dollar down by 57 paisas, KSE-100 Index ends up in negative zone
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The rupee broke the sequence of gains made by the US dollar on Wednesday as the greenback lost 57 paisas against the local currency, ending the day at Rs164.32 against the previous day’s level of Rs164.89.
At one point, the dollar was traded at as low as Rs163.89, representing a loss of one rupee in its value. However, the net loss was reduced by the time trading closed for the day.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Stock ended up in the negative zone despite an encouraging start as the KSE-100 Index ended the day at 34,401.42.
Earlier on Tuesday, the dollar continued surging against the rupee for the fourth consecutive day as its value had increased by Rs3.97 in inter-bank rate during this period.
By the time trading was closed on Tuesday, the dollar was available for Rs164.89, meaning it gained 81 paisas during the day. At one point, the greenback had reached the level of Rs165.77, which represented a gain of Rs1.69 against the local currency after the starting from the previous day’s level of Rs164.08.
As far as the open market is concerned, the dollar price increased to Rs165.20 after a gain Rs1.20.
Meanwhile, the Rs3.97 raise in the dollar value during the last four business days has caused an increase of Rs437 billion in Pakistan’s external debt.
On Monday, the dollar was up by 98 paisas as it closed at Rs164.08 in inter-bank rate. It was available for Rs164 in open market with a gain of 50 paisas.
On the other hand, the rupee experienced further devaluation against pound sterling and euro in the open market, as the two currency were up by Rs2.50 and 73 paisas respectively. The latest increase means the pound was available for Rs206 and the euro for Rs183.50.
Earlier on Monday, the euro had reached the level of Rs182.77 after gaining Rs1.80, while the pound was available for Rs203.50 with a gain of Rs2.50.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Stock Exchange was down by 6.63 points on Wednesday as the KSE-100 Index closed at 34,401.42.
At one point, the index had jumped to 34,657.73 during early trading after gaining 249.68 points but later slid to 34,354.87, representing a loss of 53.18 just before the session’s closing.
A total of 95,386,199 shares of 337 companies were traded during the day. The share prices of 183 went down while 131 made some gains. Meanwhile, the value of 23 companies remained unchanged.
Among the automobile sector companies, the share price of Millat Tractors was down by Rs10.17 followed by Al-Ghazi Tractors 8.38 and Indus Motor Rs7.26.
Meanwhile, the entire cement sector suffered losses with the share price of Bestway down by Rs3.59.
Food and personal care products, chemical, banks and fertilizer sectors too had a poor session.
But the only silver lining for the market was the oil and gas exploration and marketing companies as most of these made some gains. Among these, the share prices of Pakistan Oilfields and Attock Petroleum were up by Rs4.43 and Rs11.56 respectively.