PSX Loses Nearly 2,100 Points in Early Trade After Concerning Budget News

PSX Loses Nearly 2,100 Points in Early Trade After Concerning Budget News

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a chaotic sell-off during the early trading hours today, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing nearly 2,100 points in intraday trading amid concerning reports of new back-breaking taxes in the upcoming budget.

After opening trade at 73,862.93 points, the market showcased bearish sentiments, with the KSE-100 index losing 2,081 points in the first hour of trade today. The benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an intraday high of 73,855.12. It then lost 2,081 pts to a record low of 71,781.96.

At the time of filing, the KMI 30 index was down by 1,647 points at 120,922 while the KSE All share index fell by 561 points at 47,109.

Markets were down today after mid-week reports of new and stricter tax proposals for next fiscal year. Authorities are contemplating income Tax on capital market instruments (bonds, stocks, etc) and capital gains tax which, if exercised, will likely be equalized to standard personal income (or corporate) income, as applicable, in the upcoming budget.

A similar treatment is expected to be applied to real estate.

Meanwhile, income tax exemptions available on mutual funds and insurance products will most likely be eliminated.

These measures, and the rest have all been proposed by the International Monetary Fund. The lender is demanding another back-breaking austerity drive in exchange for a bigger bailout program.

Top Volumes
SCRIP PRICE HIGH LOW CHANGE VOLUME
WTL 1.31 1.33 1.29 13,065,381
FCCL 21.45 22.19 20.61 -0.49 11,806,550
KEL 4.75 4.85 4.65 -0.05 11,786,429
PIAHCLA 14.68 15.65 14.39 -0.96 9,674,407
HUMNL 10.3 10.4 9.7 -0.02 8,083,981
PRL 23.8 24.91 23.13 -1.11 7,966,456
HIRAT 3.82 3.82 3.03 1.0 7,903,846

This is an intraday market update.

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