KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed the week on a strongly bullish note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index surging to a new all-time high of 169,864.53 points, marking a week-on-week gain of 1.7 percent, as improving macroeconomic indicators and renewed investor confidence fuelled broad-based buying.
The index opened the week at 167,085.58 points and gained 2,778.95 points during the five trading sessions, reflecting sustained buying interest across major sectors.
In the broader market, the BRIndex100 closed the week at 17,934.60 points, up from an opening level of 17,629.50 points, with a total turnover of approximately 3.96 billion shares. Meanwhile, the BRIndex30 advanced to 58,301.95 points from 56,804.82 points, as trading volume stood at about 2.15 billion shares for the week.
Market capitalization of the PSX rose 1.5 percent to Rs19.32 trillion, equivalent to USD68.93 billion, compared to Rs19.04 trillion (USD67.89 billion) recorded in the previous week.
Market sentiment was significantly bolstered following the IMF Executive Board’s approval and disbursement of a cumulative USD1.2 billion to Pakistan under the third tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). In its review, the IMF stated that Pakistan has successfully completed 8 out of 13 structural benchmarks, while introducing 11 new benchmarks for the upcoming period.
While the IMF revised Pakistan’s GDP growth projection for FY26 downward to 3.2 percent from 3.6 percent, it improved its assessment of the country’s fiscal and external sector outlook for subsequent years, which investors viewed as a medium-term positive for economic stability.
Supporting macroeconomic indicators added to investor confidence as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported workers’ remittances of USD3.2 billion in November 2025, reflecting a 9 percent year-on-year increase. Cumulative remittances during 5MFY26 reached US$16.1 billion, also up 9 percent YoY. In addition, SBP foreign exchange reserves increased by US$12 million to USD14.6 billion during the week.
On the policy front, the federal government approved a concessional electricity tariff of Rs22.98 per unit on additional power consumption above the benchmark year to support the industrial and agricultural sectors. Moreover, the government also cleared Rs659.6 billion (approximately USD2.3 billion) of power sector circular debt, out of a total outstanding amount of Rs1.225 trillion, easing pressure on the energy sector.
Meanwhile, in the latest treasury-bill auction, the government raised Rs982 billion against a target of Rs1,055 billion, with yields remaining largely flat across all tenors, indicating stable interest-rate expectations.
Trading activity improved sharply during the week. Ready-market average daily traded volume (ADTO) jumped 52 percent to 1.03 billion shares, compared to 679.75 million shares last week. The average daily traded value on the ready board rose 23.3 percent to Rs49.57 billion, equivalent to USD176.81 million.
On the sectoral front, engineering stocks led weekly gains with a rise of 6.8 percent, followed by textile composite (5.4 percent), power (4.1 percent), technology & communication (3.2 percent), cement (3.1 percent) and chemicals (2.3 percent). Oil and Gas Marketing Companies (OGMCs) gained 2.0 percent, while Fertilizer and Banking stocks posted moderate increases.
In contrast, auto assemblers and refinery stocks ended the week in negative territory, reflecting selective profit-taking.
By volume, technology & communication stocks accounted for 19 percent of total market activity, followed by power (12 percent), banks (9 percent), food (8 percent) and investment banks (8 percent), while other sectors collectively made up 44 percent of traded volumes.
Among KSE-100 constituents, Nishat Mills Limited emerged as the top gainer, rising 23.5 percent, followed by Kot Addu Power Company (19.1 percent), Maple Leaf Cement (17.3 percent), International Steels (16.4 percent) and LOTTE Chemical Pakistan (13.2 percent). Gadoon Textile Mills and DH partners also posted double-digit gains.
On the downside, Servis Industries led decliners with a 12.9 percent drop, followed by Hum Network (-6.6 percent), TRG Pakistan (-4.9 percent), Honda Atlas Cars (-4.1 percent) and Sazgar Engineering (-3.2 percent).
Ali Najib, the Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd. noted that going forward, consolidation surrounding 170,000 is expected to reach a decisive outcome next week. A breakout above this barrier could unleash new highs, confirming bullish strength. Conversely, if momentum weakens, the 167-168k level is likely to act as the key support zone, guiding the next consolidation phase.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025