KSE-100 ticks up after Economic Survey announcement

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index rose over 276 points on Thursday after Pakistan’s finance minister announced the Economic Survey ahead of the bugdet for the fiscal year 2026-27.

The KSE-100 opened the trading session with brief selling that pushed the index to an intra-day low of 168,682.25. However, the bulls gained momentum in the latter hours, pushing the index to an intra-day high of 170,138.19.

It was followed by some selling that erased the intra-day gains and pushed the index back to the red. However, soon after the announcement of the Economic Survey for the outgoing FY2025-26, buying returned to the index to ensure a positive close.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 169,703.60, up by 276.16 points or 0.16%.

On the index contribution front, index heavyweights MEBL, MARI, ENGROH, UBL, and POL emerged as the primary drivers of upside momentum, collectively contributing 315 points to the benchmark’s gain, underscoring sustained institutional interest in blue-chip names across the energy and banking sectors, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.

On Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index declined by 903.12 points or 0.53% to close at 169,427.44 points compared to the previous close of 170,330.56 points.

Internationally, Asian stocks fell on Thursday, weighed down by a Wall Street selloff after a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation reading, while renewed US strikes on Iran fuelled a rise in oil prices.

MSCI’s broadest index of ​Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9%, led by a 3% drop in South Korea’s ‌KOSPI. S&P 500 e-mini futures were 0.3% lower.

Brent crude rose 2% to $94.93 a ​barrel as trading resumed in Asia.

Strategists believe that Asian stocks that had rallied hardest ⁠during the past two months are likely to extend recent losses, as markets question whether the sky-high expectations ​for earnings growth that had driven the gains can be maintained.

“Given already stretched valuations, these extreme bullish expectations ​set a vulnerable backdrop for momentum in Korea, Taiwan and the Asia tech sector,” said Rupal Agarwal, Asia quant strategist at Bernstein in Singapore, in a note to clients.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee gained against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local currency settled at 278.35 , a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 771.93 million from 791.64 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares increased to Rs27.05 billion from Rs25.48 billion in the previous session.

F. Nat.Equities was the volume leader with 118.36 million shares, followed by Sitara Petroleum with 53.70 million shares, and Maple Leaf with 35.48 million shares.

Shares of 487 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 190 registered an increase, 250 recorded a fall, and 47 remained unchanged.