The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the week on a negative, owing mostly to a sharp plunge following unconfirmed reports of Pakistan being placed on the grey-list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 261 points.

The index, which had made marginal gains of 101 points by the end of the first half, nose-dived in the first few minutes of trading in the second session, losing over 500 points by 3:45pm. However, a late recovery meant the index closed at 43,267 points.

Of the total of 355 traded scrips, 103 advanced, 227 declined and 25 remained unchanged. In all, 244 million shares worth Rs10.1 billion were traded on the exchange.

The engineering sector dominated trading with 18.4m shares traded, followed by chemical and tech sector at 14.8m and 11.3m shares traded.

Pakistani officials and Western diplomats say being put on the FATF watchlist could deal a blow to Pakistan’s economy, making it harder for foreign investors and companies to do business in the country.

However, an official statement on the decision has not yet been issued.

Volumes were led by:

1. Dost Steels Ltd: 27.5m shares traded [-1.56pc];

2. Azgard Nine: 15.6m shares traded [0.23pc];

3. TRG Pak Ltd: 14.7m shares traded [-3.42pc];

4. Lotte Chemical: 11.9m shares traded [-3.44pc];

5. B.O.Punjab: 11.0m shares traded [-2.24pc].