KSE-100 recovers after 642-point fall in intra-day trading

The benchmark KSE-100 Index ended the week lower by 243 points, but not before it recovered from a 642-point fall in intra-day trading as bearish sentiment prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

The index opened on a positive note, but fell steeply during the first half, losing 642 points in intra-day trading to drop to 45,179.96. However, recovery began soon after with the KSE-100 gradually reaching the 45,500 level.

At close on Friday, the KSE-100 Index settled lower by 243.04 points or 0.53% to end at 45,578.4. Both volume and value of shares traded declined from the previous session.

The fall comes as Pakistan remains involved in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of its next tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Meanwhile, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) also retained Pakistan on its 'grey-list'. At present, Pakistan is compliant on 26 out of 27 items on the initial action plan set in June 2018, while it has completed 4 out of 7 directives delivered in the previous meeting.

Terming it an ‘unsurprising move’, AKD Securities in its latest report said, “Stringent criteria of FATF with regards to Pakistan’s reclassification from grey list indicates political priorities taking precedence on objective assessment in governing decision making at the body, serving only to relegate its importance as an effective oversight.

“With long term geopolitical alignments moving to a multipolar arrangement, uneven treatment of certain jurisdictions would only serve to fracture any global standards of AML/CFT. Hence, we see latest FATF review to be a non-event for the market with all eyes set on ongoing IMF review defining the tone of the market in the near term.”

KSE-100 extends gains, up another 322 points

On the economic front, total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $24.33 billion as of October 15, 2021, a weekly decline of $1,642 million.

On the corporate front, Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) announced its financial results, posting a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs5,258 million, alongside an EPS of Rs18.52 during 1QFY22 as compared to Rs3,629 million and an EPS of Rs12.78 in 1QFY21.

Volume on the all-share index decreased from 338.32 million on Thursday to 300.69 million on Friday. The value of shares traded also declined, amounting to Rs11.83 billion from Rs13.36 billion on Thursday.

Hum Network was the volume leader with 35.87 million shares, followed by Unity Foods Limited with 22.54 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 21.05 million shares.

Shares of 346 companies were traded on Friday, of which 129 registered an increase, 208 recorded a fall, while 9 remained unchanged.