KSE-100 up amid hopes of Pakistan's removal from FATF grey list

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) sustained its rally from Tuesday, with the KSE-100 rising 384 points on Wednesday, driven by market optimism that Pakistan could be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list.

Pakistan’s delegation is in Germany to attend a FATF meeting. Discussions on Pakistan's removal from the increased monitoring list, also known as the grey list, are meant to kick off today and decisions taken in the FATF plenary are expected to be announced on Friday.

Additionally, Business Recorder also reported that China has agreed to roll over $2.3 billion loan to Pakistan and, significantly from the perspective of strengthening the $9.2 billion foreign exchange reserves (as on 3 June), to extend additional assistance of between $2.5 to $2.8 billion. This also fueled buying activity at the equity market.

The rally comes after the stock market suffered one of its worst falls this year in the first post-budget session on Monday, when the KSE-100 Index recorded a decline of 1,135 points with investors gauging the impact of new budgetary measures imposed by the government.

The KSE-100 had closed at 40,879.93 — its lowest level since November 27, 2020.

However, the situation had improved on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning, trading kicked off positively and the market climbed close to 500 points in early hours.

Investors opted to cherry-pick stocks owing to strong sentiment. Buoyed by the decline in rupee, the market shed some of the gains after midday, but it still closed in the green.

KSE-100 advances past 41,000, but volumes remain low

The market gained 384.11 points or 0.94% to close at 41,438.79 points.

A report from Capital Stake said bulls ruled the PSX on Wednesday. Indices accumulated gains all day long while volumes appreciated from last close.

On the economic front, the rupee closed at Rs206.46 against the greenback due to concerns of spike in inflation and strengthening of the dollar in the international market.

Rupee tumbles to all-time low as US dollar strengthens globally

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 index north included cement (73.58 points), banking (70.56 points) and fertiliser (69.96 points).

Volume on the all-share index increased to 141.7 million from 120.1 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded rose to Rs4.76 billion from Rs3.36 billion recorded in the previous session.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 17.35 million shares, followed by Balochistan Glass with 9.85 million shares, and Pak Refinery with 8.92 million shares.

Shares of 337 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 175 registered an increase, 131 recorded a fall, and 31 remained unchanged.