Daily Times

The benchmark KSE-100 Index rose 175 points on Tuesday, a day after it suffered one of its worst declines in 2022, as investors hoped Pakistan will be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) enhanced monitoring list, often known as the grey list.

The KSE-100 ended the day at 41,054.68, up 174.75 points or 0.43pc, as investors sought bargains in the OMC, E&P, and cement industries. However, both the value and number of shares traded have decreased since the previous closure of trading. It was the worst day for the KSE-100 since November 27, 2020, when it closed at 40,879.93 points, a loss of 1,134.8 points, or 2.7pc.

In the first few minutes of trading, the stock market was down 222 points at 40,657, a new intraday low. With that said, the banking and energy sectors helped spur a second-half rally that sent the index to an intraday high of 41,115 and a gain of 235 points. Shares of Arif Habib Limited (AHL) jumped after the market closed because of predictions that Pakistan will be removed from the FATF’s grey list. A drop of Rs1.3 or 0.64pc sent the rupee to a new low versus the US dollar of Rs205.16.

Banking (52.62 points), oil and gas exploration (43.24 points), and oil and gas marketing were some of the main drivers of the benchmark index’s rise (32.13 points). Index volume fell to 120m shares from 163.8m on Monday, according to data from the All-Share Price Index. From Rs4.35b in the previous session, shares traded at the BSE fell to Rs3.36b today. There were 8.19m shares in Unity Foods, followed by K-Electric Limited (7.52m shares), and Hum Network Limited (7.52m shares). As a result, on Tuesday, a total of 315 different companies’ shares were exchanged, with 163 seeing their shares rise, 128 experiencing declines, and 24 seeing their shares remain flat.