Stocks finishes strong, KSE-100 settles near 184,000 level

After a day of selling pressure, buying momentum returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling near 184,000 level following a gain of over 1,500 points on Tuesday.

During the day, the benchmark index opened slightly higher but experienced an early dip, falling from around 184,000 an intra-day low of 180,589.95, indicating profit-taking.

The index fluctuated throughout the day, showing a mixed response from investors. From midday onwards, the index displayed a steady upward trend, climbing to an intra-day high of 184,304.86.

The index closed at 183,951.50, up 1,567.36 points or 0.86%.

“Key index heavyweights, including UBL, NBP, MCB, LUCK, and MEBL, provided significant support, jointly contributing 936 points to the benchmark,” said Topline Securities, in its post-market commentary.

“Meanwhile, declines in FFC, SAZEW, and HALEON weighed on performance, collectively reducing the index by 158 points,” it added.

In a key development, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has asked the business community to suggest new taxation measures for increasing of incidence of tax on affluent classes. In this regard, the FBR has sought budget proposals from the business and trade for new fiscal year.

Pakistan’s equity market ended Monday’s trading session on a sharply negative note as investors resorted to aggressive profit-taking following last week’s robust gains. The KSE-100 Index closed at 182,384.15 points, posting a decline of 2,025.52 points or 1.1%.

Internationally, a surge in Japanese shares led Asia higher on Tuesday amid investor bullishness over all things AI, while the cloud of uncertainty over Federal Reserve independence favoured gold even as it weighed on the dollar.

In share markets, Japan’s Nikkei returned from holiday with a jump of 3.4% to record highs, aided by a weak yen and talk of fiscal stimulus. South Korea and Taiwan also hit all-time peaks, while Chinese blue chips scaled a four-year top.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8% to a fresh record peak.

In European markets, EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 0.2%, while DAX futures gained 0.1% and FTSE futures went flat.

S&P 500 futures eased 0.2% and Nasdaq futures 0.3% ahead of a key reading on U.S. consumer prices for December. Forecasts are for annual core inflation to nudge up to 2.7%, though analysts at Goldman Sachs are tipping 2.8%.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the local currency settled at 280.00, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,037.3 million from 1,058.8 million recorded in the previous close. However, the value of shares improved to Rs62.70 billion from Rs48.24 billion in the previous session.

B.O.Punjab was the volume leader with 73.89 million shares, followed by Media Times Ltd with 67.42 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 43.45 million shares.

Shares of 480 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 177 registered an increase, 265 recorded a fall, and 38 remained unchanged.