ISLAMABAD, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The key index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) lost more than 1,600 points in the last trading session of the week on Friday after the federal government announced a 10-percent tax on large-scale industries.
According to PSX experts, the imposition of the new tax on the corporate sector panicked investors who resorted to booking profits, noting that the new taxation would impact the net profit of companies by more than 10 percent.
The large-scale industries that came under new taxation include cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, textile, banking, automobile, chemicals, beverages and cigarettes.
Earlier in the day, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that his government has to take tough decisions to steer the near-default country out of the economic crisis.
"The revenue generated from the super tax would be beneficial for poverty alleviation to support the burden of inflation on the masses," the prime minister said.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-Index dipped by 3.9 percent or 1,665.18 points to close at 41,051.79 points on Friday when compared with 42,716.97 points reported on Thursday, according to the data shared by PSX.
The trading board presented a red look on Friday as the KSE All-Share Index decreased by 3.26 percent or 949.18 points to close at 28,196.03 points, and the KSE 30-Index slid by 4.22 percent or 690.77 points to end at 15,662.45 points, the KMI 30-Index shed 4.42 percent or 3,120.88 points to conclude at 67,513.30 points, whereas the Islamic All-Share Index deflated by 3.25 percent or 691.54 points to finish the trading session at 20,595.05 points.
Also, the trading session witnessed bearish trends which made the main index travel in an extended range of 2,226.93 points. During the course of the trading day, the key index touched an intraday peak of 42,782.34 points against an intraday low of 40,555.41 points.
Market volumes were recorded at 210.809 million shares on Friday. The turnover was 39.68 percent or 138.679 million shares lower when compared with 349.488 million shares traded hands on Thursday.
Among 364 active scrips on Friday, the prices of 63 issues closed in the green ink, and 285 ended down in the bearish lap, whereas the values of 16 other listed companies remained unchanged.
K-Electric Limited, Cnergyico PK Limited, and Pakistan Refinery Limited were the top traded companies with turnovers of 36.666 million shares, 25.854 million shares, and 25.300 million shares, respectively.
