KSE-100 hits all-time high as investors cheer US tariff reduction

Buying momentum was seen at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as investors celebrated the reduction in US reciprocal tariffs on Pakistan, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing the session at over 141,000 for first time in history.

The bulls largely remained dominated in the last session of the week, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 141,160.93.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 141,034.99, up by 1,644.56 or 1.18%.

“This positivity in market can be attributed to news that Pakistan secured ‘landmark’ tariff deal with US, wherein Pakistan will now face reciprocal tariffs of 19% compared to earlier rate of 29%,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

“Apart from this noise in the market that government will make payment to clear circular debt in coming weeks by obtaining Rs1.25 trillion from banks, provided stimulus to the market.”

Top positive contribution of 1,355 points to the index cumulatively came from OGDC, PPL, HUBC & PSO, as they stand to benefit for circular debt payment, Topline said.

“Potential US-Pakistan collaboration on oil exploration and news regarding Circular Debt payment likely in next week provided much needed impetus to energy sector stocks today,” Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said in a report.

In a key development, the US administration imposed a 19% reciprocal tariff on a wide range of Pakistani goods, significantly lower than the initially proposed 29%, under a sweeping new executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

Late on Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations.

Rates were set at 25% for India’s US-bound exports, 20% for Taiwan’s, 19% for Thailand’s and 15% for South Korea’s.

He also increased duties on Canadian goods to 35% from 25% for all products not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, but gave Mexico a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs to negotiate a broader trade deal.

On Thursday, PSX roared back to life as bullish momentum dominated the trading floor. This sharp surge came on the heels of a surprise tweet by US President Donald Trump, who announced what he described as a historic trade deal with Pakistan.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index went up by a remarkable 978 points, equivalent to a 0.71% increase, to close at 139,390.42 points.

Internationally, Asian shares fell on Friday after the US slapped dozens of trading partners with steep tariffs, while investors anxiously await US jobs data that could make or break the case for a Fed rate cut next month.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7%, bringing the total loss this week to 1.8%. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 3% while Taiwanese shares fell 0.9%.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.4%. Chinese blue chips were flat and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index eked out a small gain of 0.2%.

EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.2%. Both Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures eased 0.2% after earnings from Amazon failed to live up to lofty expectations, sending its shares tumbling 6.6% after hours.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its upward trajectory against the US dollar, appreciating 0.05% during trading in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 282.72, a gain of Re0.15.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 609.71 million from 577.35 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs50.55 billion from Rs36.35 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 55.01 million shares, followed by Pak Petroleum with 43.04 million shares, and Oil & Gas Dev with 37.04 million shares.

Shares of 483 companies were traded on Friday, of which 199 registered an increase, 246 recorded a fall, while 38 remained unchanged.