KSE-100 flat near 171,161 at midday, rupee slips to 277.43 before IMF talks

The market is waiting rather than trading. The KSE-100 closed Monday at 171,153.17, up 268.58 points or 0.16 per cent, and by midday Tuesday it was at 171,161, a move of eight points. That is not a drift, it is a market holding its breath before the IMF staff mission arrives on Wednesday.

The numbers at midday

• KSE-100: 171,161, against Monday's close of 171,153.17
• Interbank rupee: Rs 277.43 to the dollar, from Rs 277.22
• 24K gold: Rs 448,844 a tola, down Rs 4,714 from Monday's Rs 453,558
• 22K gold: Rs 411,440 a tola
• Silver: Rs 6,783 a tola, down Rs 131
• Bitcoin: $85,249

The index is still 3.29 per cent below where it was a month ago, and 8.63 per cent above where it was a year ago. The month-long slide is the more useful number: it covers the run-up to this review.

The rupee

Twenty-one paisa in a morning is noise, not a trend. What matters is where it sits before the IMF mission puts its numbers on the table: Rs 277.43 is a whisker off the range the rupee has held since August. The last month has been quiet by Pakistani standards, with the rate moving inside a rupee.

If you are sending or receiving money this week, the currency converter carries the dirham, riyal, pound and euro rates alongside the dollar, and the dollar rate page has the daily series.

Gold is where the money actually moved

Rs 4,714 off a tola in a day is a real move, and it follows a Rs 2,700 fall in Monday's afternoon revision. Anyone who bought on Friday is down more than Rs 7,000 a tola. Anyone buying for a wedding this month has had the best week in a while.

At Rs 448,844, a tola of 24K works out to about Rs 38,480 a gram. The tola to gram converter does that arithmetic against the live rate, and if you are working out zakat on jewellery this month, the zakat calculator uses the same numbers.

What moves it next

Three dates. The IMF mission lands Wednesday and reports in the first week of October. NEPRA hears the DISCOs' request for Rs 1.73 a unit more on 29 September. The SE Fruits public offer opens on 28 and 29 September after the book filled in two hours.

Our KSE-100 page and gold rate page update through the day.