KSE-100 settles at new record high as PSX reacts positively to budget

Investors at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rejoiced over the lack of major taxation measures proposed during the budget for fiscal year 2025-26, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at a new record high of 124,352.68 on Wednesday.

Bullish momentum persisted throughout the trading session, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 124,588.17.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 124,352.68, amid an increase of 2,328.24 points or 1.91%.

Across-the-board buying momentum was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PSO, WAFI, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL settled in the green.

The upswing at PSX comes as the government did not announce any “major changes on taxation”, said Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research at Pak Kuwait Investment Company Limited, told Business Recorder.

“Capital gain dividends are retained at 15%,” he added.

In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed satisfaction over the stock market performance.

“The bullish trend in the stock market is an expression of confidence by investors and businessmen in the people-friendly budget,” he said.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the federal budget 2025-26 to the parliament on Tuesday, with a total outlay of Rs 17.573 trillion, targeting a GDP growth rate of 4.2 per cent against 2.7 per cent in the outgoing year.

Aurangzeb termed the budget the start of a strategy to create a competitive economy and economic productivity to increase exports and fundamentally change the economy’s DNA.

The government has set an inflation target of 7.5% for the next fiscal year. Regarding the fiscal deficit, the government projected a target of 3.9% of the GDP — or Rs5,037 billion — from the outgoing fiscal year’s target of 5.9%. The primary surplus is targeted at 2.4% of the GDP against the budgeted 2% in the current fiscal year, which has been revised to 2.2%.

Internationally, share markets and the dollar on Wednesday offered a guarded welcome to the latest signs of progress in US-China trade talks, while awaiting more detail of what was decided and whether it would stick for long.

Bond investors were also hunkered down for a reading in US inflation that could show the early impact of tariffs on prices, and a Treasury auction that will test demand for the debt.

Over in London, negotiators from Washington and Beijing said they had “agreed a framework on trade” that would be taken back to their leaders.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added the implementation plan should result in restrictions on rare earths and magnets being resolved, but again offered no specifics.

The law was another hurdle as a federal appeals court allowed President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs to remain in effect on Tuesday while it reviews a lower court decision blocking them.

Investors, who have been badly burned by trade turmoil before, offered a cautious response and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%.

Japan’s Nikkei added 0.4% and Australian stocks firmed 0.4%.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.09% during trading on Wednesday. At close, the local currency settled at 282.47, a loss of Re0.26 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 1,041.13 million from 592.95 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs46.71 billion from Rs21.83 billion in the previous session.

Pervez Ahmed Co was the volume leader with 78.29 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 55.14 million shares, and Sui South Gas with 45.09 million shares.

Shares of 478 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 283 registered an increase, 157 recorded a fall, while 38 remained unchanged.