Banks leading the way: KSE 100 jumps by 350 points

The first half of Friday, July 13th 2018’s trading session witnessed a positive opening at the KSE – 100 Index, as the market scaled up by 350 points, reaching 40,225 points before the second half resumes. 

The intraday high, so far, is at 40,388 points while the low has been recorded at 39,851 points, having moved within the range of 537 points.

As of now, 38.9 million shares have already been traded in KSE – 100, whereas in KSE All Share, 53.6 million shares have been traded up till now. Clearly, volume traded in both the indexes in today’s session has already exceeded the corresponding volumes during yesterday’s session at around the same time.

This morning, United Bank Limited (UBL) announced signing a Written Agreement (WA) with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to take steps in order to strengthen their compliance system with regard to the reserve bank’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering Act (AML). After UBL’s involvement in a recent bank scandal, rumors had been travelling in the market regarding termination of the bank’s New York branch, which have now been removed following this compliance agreement. 

Moreover, as the State Bank of Pakistan is scheduled to announce their next monetary policy tomorrow, analysts believe that the policy announcement will increase interest rates by 50 – 100 basis points. 

These events have caused Commercial Banks to be right at the top, in the list of net gainers at KSE – 100 today. 

Fertilizer sector, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies and Power Generation & Distribution remain the worst performers so far.

Within KSE All Share Index, Bata Pakistan (increased by Rs.30 or 1.62%), Mari Petroleum (increased by Rs.29.78 or 2.13%) and Wyeth Pakistan (increased by Rs.26.20 or 1.90%) ranked among the best performers, whereas Indus Motors (reduced by Rs.25.29 or1.89%), Punjab Oil Mills (reduced by Rs.14.39 or 5%) and Pakistan Oxygen Limited (reduced by Rs.7.06 or 3.01%) remained at the bottom during the first hours of the session.

Volume at KSE is being led by the Bank of Punjab (10.6 million) and UBL (2.9 million).