Selling continues at bourse, KSE-100 down over 3,000 points

Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding nearly 2,000 points during the intra-day trading on Monday. At 1:50pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 176,574.00, a decrease of 3,029.73 points or 1.69%. Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the red. Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced on Saturday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would soon unveil a relief package for the construction sector. The minister also revealed that the government is considering reducing tax rates for the property sector and will announce a relief package for the textile industry within the next ten to twelve days.