Stocks stage late recovery as KSE-100 ends with 108-point fall

After seeing an over 400-point decrease, the KSE-100 recovered to end just 108 points lower as investors keenly awaited the monetary policy announcement with volumes declining significantly at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.

While the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased the key interest rate by 25 basis points, the first hike in over two years, the KSE-100 started the day under pressure, falling to an intra-day low of 46,215.18 for a decrease of 420.90 points.

First hike in over 2 years: SBP raises key interest rate by 25 basis points

However, a sharp recovery in the final one hour of trading meant the index finished with a loss of 107.87 points or 0.23% to settle at 46,528.21. Volumes were almost half of those witnessed on Friday as investors operated with caution.

The rate hike was announced after market closed with the SBP, in its statement, saying that the MPC has noted that the pace of the economic recovery has exceeded expectations.

KSE-100 falls 284 points as current account balance disappoints

On Monday, sectors dragging the KSE-100 index lower included oil and gas exploration (47.03 points), textile composite (37.06 points) and food and personal care products (26.43 points).

Volume on the all-share index decreased from 387.29 million on Friday to 194.72 million on Monday. The value of shares traded also declined significantly during the session, amounting to Rs8.07 billion from Rs16.24 billion.

Telecard Limited was the volume leader with 19.86 million shares, followed by WorldCall Limited with 13.37 million shares, and Byco Petroleum 11.31 million shares.

Shares of 512 companies were traded on Monday, of which 135 registered an increase, 365 recorded a fall, while 12 remained unchanged.