Healthy buying was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on the opening day of the month, as the benchmark KSE-100 index was up over 1,000 points, breaking the 47,000 level in intra-day trading on Monday.

At 1:40pm, the KSE-100 was up 1,008 points, an increase of 2.2%, to hover around the 47,200 level.

The market had been under pressure given uncertainty over negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), widening current account deficit, and rupee depreciation.

"A number of factors were keeping the market on the back foot," Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, told Business Recorder.

"This included ambiguity regarding IMF programme, PKR depreciation, and political noise. However, some clarity regarding the IMF, especially after SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir's statement, and back-to-back rupee appreciation against the US dollar, have improved market sentiments."

He added that the implementation of the new trading system by the PSX also kept the market volume dull due to issues in the system.

Furthermore, political stability also played its part, added Abbas.

On Sunday, the federal government announced that it had reached an agreement with Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to end a 10-day standoff.

“The details of the agreement would be shared at an appropriate time,” said noted cleric Mufti Muneebur Rehman at a joint presser with Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Parliamentary Affairs State Minister Ali Muhammad Khan. TLP leaders Ghulam Abbas Faizi and Mufti Muhammad Umair were also present.

Meanwhile, after facing multiple technical issues in the new trading system, the PSX has decided to shift trading to the previous system called the Karachi Automated Trading System (KATS) as a short-term measure.

This is an intra-day update.

This article first appeared in Business Recorder on 1 Nov 2021.