KARACHI: Bears dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as it plummeted by over 600 points during the intraday trading.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 656.19 points or 0.89% to reach at 73,206.74 points as compared to the yesterday's close of 73,862.93 points.
At one point around 10am, the stocks plunged by over 1,900 points and hit 71,961 points.
Speaking to Geo.tv, Arif Habib Limited (AHL) Head of Research Tahir Abbas said that the market sentiment is negative amid news flow suggesting increase in capital gains tax on equities alongside higher taxation on dividend income in the upcoming budget.
"The investors rushed to sell their positions before the budget which caused panic in the market," he added.
A day earlier, the benchmark index decline by 356.51 points or 0.48% due to concerns about higher taxes in the impending FY25 budget and economic uncertainties.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said: “Stocks closed lower on concerns for economic uncertainty. Investor expectations for cautious SBP policy and subdued growth impacted the sentiments.”
Reports of likely harsh conditions in the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme for raising power tariffs, tax measures in the Federal Budget FY25 played a catalyst role in the bearish close.
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