KSE-100 gains 1.3% in strong post-Eid trading session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a strong bullish post-Eid session on Friday amid hopes of a peace deal between US and Iran, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 1.3%, reflecting aggressive buying across the board.

The market opened on a volatile note, hitting the intra-day low of 171,545.46 in early trade as investors initially remained cautious. However, sentiment quickly turned positive, triggering a steady upward trajectory throughout the session.

The rally intensified during the second half of trading, with the benchmark crossing the 174,000 mark briefly and hitting a session high of 174,106.34 points.

Although some profit-taking emerged near the end, signalling sustained investor confidence.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 173,962.81, down by 2,237.52 points or 1.30%.

“This positivity can be accredited to optimism that US and Iran are about to close a peace deal,” brokerage house Topline said in its post-market report.

Top positive contribution to the index came from FFC, ENGROH, LUCK, EFERT, BAHL and HBL, as they cumulatively contributed +1,484 points to the index, Topline said.

On Monday, PSX staged a strong recovery as renewed optimism surrounding ongoing United States-Iran negotiations, easing international oil prices, and aggressive buying ahead of the Eid holidays propelled the stock market sharply higher. The KSE-100 Index closed at 171,725.29 points, registering a substantial increase of 3,881.05 points or 2.31%.

Globally, world stocks stood at record highs on Friday, and oil futures eyed the steepest weekly drop for nearly two months as traders waited for details on a potential deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the US-Iran ceasefire.

Sources told Reuters that the US and Iran have reached an agreement to extend their ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping, though US President Donald Trump has yet to approve it, and Iranian state media said it had not been finalised.

Moves in the Asian morning were modest, with S&P 500 futures steady after the index notched another record closing high overnight.

MSCI’s index of world stocks edged up to a record high, with AI-euphoria lifting chipmaker shares around the world and pushing benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul up around 2% on Friday morning and toward weekly rises.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee posted marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the local currency settled at 278.50, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index declined to 555.06 million from 506.35 million recorded in the previous close.

The value of shares rose to Rs40.88 billion from Rs31.15 billion in the previous session.

TRG Pak Ltd was the volume leader with 34.19 million shares, followed by B.O.Punjab with 23.89 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 22.88 million shares.

Shares of 490 companies were traded on Friday, of which 298 registered an increase, 161 recorded a fall, and 31 remained unchanged.