Pakistan Stock Exchange sheds 203.36 points
May 18, 2020 04:50 PM
The Pakistan Stock Exchange started the new business week with losses as the KSE-100 Index was down by 203.36 points and closed at 33,804.97 on Monday.
At one point, the index had jumped to 34,393.12 after resuming the trading from the previous level of 34,008.33, but this early flash proved unsustainable as the market move downward since then.
A total of 144,648,201 shares were traded at the market with the share prices of 158 companies shedding their value. However, the share prices of 143 made some gains while 18 remained unchanged.
The share price of Sanofi-Aventis went up by Rs66.14 in continuation of the trend being witnessed in recent days. Sanofi – a French pharmaceutical giant – is involved in developing a vaccine for COVID-19 like some other companies.
The company triggered a controversy last week over the vaccine issue after which it was reported that French President Emmanuel Macron will meet its chief executive on May 19.
The French government was angered by Paul Hudson who had stated that some countries, like the US, would get priority access to a coronavirus vaccine.
Hudson, however, later tempered his original comments earlier by saying it was vital that any coronavirus vaccine reach all parts of the world.
Meanwhile, Wyeth Pakistan too saw its share price going up by Rs66.23 during a session which was again fruitful as whole for the pharma sector.
On the other hand, the automobile sector witnessed gains with only Millat Tractors out of the 11 companies shedding the value of its shares.
However, it was a bad day for cement, chemical, engineering, oil and gas marketing companies, fertilizer and commercial banking sectors.