PSX extends slide ahead of policy rate announcement

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week with a decline of more than 1,000 points, the biggest single-day fall in over a month. According to the Karachi-based brokerage firm Topline Securities, it was the highest day-on-day decline since Dec 26. According to the stock exchange data, the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 1,039.34 points, or 1.63pc, to close at 62,773.72 on Monday. Monday’s negative session “can be attributed to investors opting to book profits before the announcement of monetary policy and foreign selling”, Topline said. Later on Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 22 per cent.