The benchmark KSE-100 Index ended flat on Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the Monetary Policy announcement later in the day.

The index witnessed a range-bound session with the KSE-100 recording an intraday low of 47,616.73, and finding resistance near 48,000. At close, the index ended a mere 14.31 points higher to finish at 47,686.99.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank is due to announce the monetary policy for the next two months. A majority of financial market participants expect the MPC to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 7%.

KSE-100 suffers 120-point fall

The sectors pulling the benchmark KSE -100 index higher included banking (61.61 points), textile composite (16.25 points) and fertilizer (13.50 points).

Volume on the all-share index decreased from 450.24 million on Monday to 432.62 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded during the session amounted to Rs13.87 billion, an increase from Rs13.58 billion on Monday.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 36.63 million shares, followed by Byco Petroleum with 34.55 million shares, and KASB Mod at 17.83 million shares.

Shares of 432 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 165 registered an increase, 259 recorded a fall, while 8 remained unchanged.