Latest news with #KarachiStockExchange100
Mint
19-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Pakistan stock market: KSE 100 index dips as New Delhi intensifies diplomatic pressure on Islamabad
Pakistan stock market's benchmark index, Karachi Stock Exchange 100 (KSE 100), dipped 0.33% in intraday trade on Monday, May 19, as India intensified diplomatic pressure on its neighbouring country. The Indian government has decided to send all-party delegations to 33 global capitals to brief global leaders on India's resolve to deal with terrorism firmly against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor. The KSE 100 index opened in the green at 120,166.7, but soon erased losses to trade in the red. It hit the day's low of 119,250.68, as against its previous close of 119,649.14. This is the second straight day of fall for the Pakistan stock market's flagship index. Meanwhile, the index has dipped in three of the last four trading sessions. However, so far in May, the KSE 100 index has risen over 7%, boosted by a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following four days of heavy clashes. As part of its diplomatic outreach following Operation Sindoor, which included targeted strikes on terrorists' camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, 59 members of Parliament, former ministers and politicians, will be part of the seven delegations that will travel to 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels. The delegation, cutting across party lines, is a diplomatic outreach mission which aims to convey India's firm resolve to combat terrorism in the context of Operation Sindoor.
Business Mayor
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
De-escalation and the damage done
This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters Good morning. The ceasefire between India and Pakistan, which looked shaky over the weekend, appears to be holding. Equities in both countries rallied: India's Nifty 50 index by just under 4 per cent, and Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange 100 by 9 per cent, in US dollar terms. Let's hope markets are right to be optimistic. Email us: and Taco Monday: a big relief, but The pattern is now unmistakable. Trump announces extreme tariff policies but in the face of a negative political, economic or market response, he backs off. The Taco (for Trump Always Chickens Out) trade notched up its latest win yesterday, after Trump announced that he would cut tariffs on China from 145 per cent to 30 per cent for 90 days, ending what had amounted to an embargo on many Chinese goods (a significant number of products, such as electronics, had already received exemptions). China, for its part, cut its tariffs from 125 per cent to 10 per cent. Markets roared their approval. Yes, a 30 per cent tariff is still high and 90 days is not forever. But the central forecast now has to be that, should 30 per cent tariffs pinch in the US, Trump will bring those down, too. What reason has the administration given for investors to expect anything else? Trump observers love to note that the president has been rambling on about protectionism for 40 years now. But talk is cheap. Judge the man by his actions. Trump's habit of concession is unambiguously good news. But the trade war is not over, and it is worth articulating the risks that remain. Read More Five-year gilt yields drop below 7%, hit 7-month low Most obviously, while we can observe Trump's behaviour, we can't read his mind. While it seems less likely all the time, there may be some territory he will refuse to concede, even under pressure. Andrew Bishop, head of policy research at Signum Global Advisors, agrees that Trump almost always backs off. But he points out that there is something of an escalating, two-steps-forward, one-step-back pattern in his actions. On January 20, Trump proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and then did nothing whatsoever about it. In February he threatened those countries again, and actually signed an order, but didn't implement it. In March, he announced, signed and implemented tariffs on Canada and Mexico — then backed down immediately. On 'liberation day', he announced, signed and implemented high tariffs on the world — and then took a month to back off. So there is a sort of advancing pattern amid all the retreats. The Taco view of this pattern is that Trump is feeling around for a position that changes other countries' behaviour significantly without causing significant consumer or market pain in the US. Because there is no such position, the final equilibrium state will be a quite moderate tariff regime. But even hardcore Taco believers like Unhedged have to concede that other outcomes, while unlikely, are possible. Trump is not especially easy to predict. For the time being, tariffs at their current levels are high enough to have a significant impact on corporate profits, and the stock market is still not pricing that in. Joseph Wang, an independent analyst, wrote yesterday that In theory, the impact on tariffs can be blunted by a strengthening currency and substitution towards non-tariffed countries. However, the dollar has been weakening and a global minimum tariff makes substitution less likely as it impacts all imports regardless of origin . . . A very rough estimate based on recent goods import volumes of $3tn suggests that the incremental increase in tariff revenue would easily be over $200bn A $200bn tax increase could carve 4 per cent or 5 per cent out of US corporate profits, and yet earnings estimates and valuations remain elevated. Read More China clears path for foreign investors to $5tn swaps market Foreign investors, meanwhile, may look at the volatility in US policy and asset prices and change their behaviour in significant ways, even after the latest climbdown. Regulated global investors like pension funds and insurance companies will be forced by their risk rules — grounded in backward-facing volatility measures — to reduce their dollar exposure or hedge it more (this helps explain the continued weakness of the dollar index). And many investors may think about diversifying outside of the US, especially given that American assets are so expensive to begin with. For example, Jim Caron, chief investment officer for the Portfolio Solutions Group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, is looking to regional diversification, and his team's highest conviction overweight is European equities. Also, the China reprieve might not do very much to the fact that inflation risks remain, which means that hedging volatile US equities with long Treasuries might not work. Here's Caron: From a portfolio perspective [higher inflation] means that longer duration fixed income may not be as good of a hedge as in prior cycles. So, I prefer to be underweight duration, holding higher quality shorter duration bonds, because in the event something bad happens, the mechanism for the Fed to cut rates will be deployed. Conversely, if we get positive news, well, that's inflationary too, [so the] back end underperforms. Effectively, we have to understand that longer duration bonds are not the hedge they used to be. The economic scars from back-and-forth US policymaking may be significant and lasting, too. As Bishop points out, policymakers and corporate managers may not take much comfort from the fact that Trump chickens out almost every time. 'You are playing Russian roulette,' he says. 'Yes, [Trump] backs down nine times out of 10, but if you hit the wrong chamber, you blow up your economy' or your company. Investors, politicians and companies still have to take defensive measures when dealing with the US, and defensive measures create economic friction. For example, supply chains will not function as smoothly, as Grace Zwemmer, economist at Oxford Economics, explains: The 90-day pause will probably spur another round of frontloading by importers trying to avoid heavy tariffs [later] . . . A rebound in imports from China would reduce the risks of a supply chain disruption . . . However, it is likely to keep uncertainty around tariff rates high. Future tariff announcements could lead to sharper declines in imports and a bigger risk of supply chain disruptions in anticipation that relief will be forthcoming. Finally, the China de-escalation may not be enough to free the Fed to cut rates. The Fed is looking at firm employment data, inflation a bit above target, and significant tariff uncertainty. Trump has taken the worst-case scenario off the table for three months, but the Fed needs more clarity than that, given the data it has. Several Wall Street economists came out yesterday and reaffirmed their view that the Fed is unlikely to cut this year. Unhedged tends to agree with them. One good read Whipping Post. Can't get enough of Unhedged? Listen to our new podcast, for a 15-minute dive into the latest markets news and financial headlines, twice a week. Catch up on past editions of the newsletter here. Due Diligence — Top stories from the world of corporate finance. Sign up here Free Lunch — Your guide to the global economic policy debate. Sign up here
Mint
13-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Pakistan stock market: KSE 100 jumps 2%, extends gains to 3rd day as India-Pak ceasefire lifts sentiments
Pakistan stock market: Extending its gains to the third consecutive session, the equity benchmark index of Pakistan – Karachi Stock Exchange 100 (KSE 100) –surged over 2% on Tuesday, May 13, edging closer to its all-time high level. Pakistan's stock market rose to its highest since early April today, after surging 9.4% on Monday following the ceasefire announcement, according to Reuters.
Mint
09-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Pakistan stock market: KSE 100 index rebounds after 4-day beating on India-Pakistan tensions
Karachi stock exchange today: The Pakistan stock market rebounded from lows on Friday, May 9, after four days of bear hammering as the escalation in India-Pakistan spooked investors across the border. At the time of writing this report, the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 or KSE-100 index was up 0.83% or 857 points at 103,531, according to data available on Bloomberg. In early trade, it rose as much as 2%. On Thursday, the benchmark index lost over 6% of its value in intraday deals, sparking a temporary trading halt. In the last four trading sessions, the KSE 100 index lost 9.5% of its value. The conflict between India and Pakistan has heightened after Indian military forces responded to a terror attack on its civilians in Pahalgam, Kashmir, which resulted in the death of 26 people. As part of its response, India conducted military strikes against nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early Wednesday that were 'precise and restrained' and designed to be 'non-escalatory in nature.' India on Thursday night swiftly thwarted Pakistan's fresh attempts to strike military sites with drones and missiles, including in Jammu and Pathankot, after foiling similar bids at 15 places in northern and western regions of the country, as tensions soared between the two countries amid fears of a wider conflict, according to a PTI report.
