KSE-100 closes 278.77 points higher in anticipation of budget announcement

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended gains on Friday and the KSE-100 index crossed the 42,000 point mark as investors remained positive about the budget announcement that took place after the market had closed.

Trading began with a spike. However, the market levelled shortly after and the KSE-100 index traded in a narrow range throughout the first session before closing 99 points up.

The market staged a rally in the second session and the benchmark index rose sharply in the final hour to end with modest gains.

The KSE-100 index rose 278.77 points or 0.67% to close at 42,014.73 points.

KSE-100 jumps 0.44% on budget optimism

In its commentary, Capital Stake stated that investors witnessed a battle between bulls and bears ahead of the budget announcement. Indices swayed in both directions until finally settling positive.

Tax on banking sector enhanced to 42% from 39%, says Miftah while announcing budget proposals

Next Capital noted that the market witnessed range-bound activity throughout the trading sessions as investors awaited the upcoming budget.

On the economic front, the rupee weakened by 0.78% or Rs1.58 against the US dollar to close at Rs202.35.

Rupee sheds 0.78% against US dollar owing to drop in forex reserves

Additionally, the State Bank Pakistan’s reserves declined by $497 million to $9.23 billion (lowest since November 2019) on a weekly basis. Net reserves with banks were down by $98 million.

Alarm bells: SBP-held foreign exchange reserves fall to $9.23bn

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 index north included oil and gas exploration (64.36 points), fertiliser (57.11 points) and automobile assembling (41 points).

Volume on the all-share index dropped to 115.87 million from 235.35 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded fell to Rs3.07 billion from Rs5.47 billion recorded in the previous session.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 12 million shares, followed by G3 Technologies with 10.4 million shares, and Lotte Chemical with 7.33 million shares.

Shares of 315 companies were traded on Friday, of which 185 registered an increase, 99 recorded a fall, and 31 remained unchanged.