After a day of selling pressure, buying interest returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a gain of over 650 points on Thursday.
Trading began with heavy selling pressure, pushing the index quickly to the intra-day low of 186,825.61 shortly after the opening. This was followed by a strong recovery, lifting the index back above the previous close and into positive territory.
For most of the trading session, trading remained largely range-bound, pushing the index to an intra-day high of 188,106.82.
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 187,688.16, an increase of 654.90 points or 0.35%.
Key index heavyweights, including ENGROH, HUBC, EFERT, ATRL, and AICL, added a combined 606 points to the benchmark. These gains were partially offset by losses in UBL, HBL, and BOP, which together erased 174 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
“Going forward, another session of consolidation around 187k level cannot be ruled out,” Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading, Arif Habib Ltd said in a commentary.
In a key development, foreign assistance to Pakistan in the first half of 2025-26 reached $4.51 billion, registering an increase of 20% compared to the corresponding period of last year.
According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at $1.07 billion for the period from July to December 2025 -26, whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to $1.97 billion during the same period.
On Wednesday, the PSX experienced a sharp reversal as widespread profit booking and heavy selling in index heavyweights pushed the market deep into negative territory, erasing the previous session’s gains. The KSE-100 plunged 1,588.52 points, or 0.84%, to close at 187,033.27 points.
Internationally, the US dollar was higher, gold softer and stocks on the rebound on Thursday after US President Donald Trump dropped tariff threats and ruled out seizing Greenland from an ally by force.
Wall Street indexes jagged higher on those words, and the S&P 500 closed overnight, notching a 1.16% rise, its largest in two months, and European futures rose 1.3% in the Asian morning.
A bouncing dollar has pushed the euro back under $1.17, to $1.1676, and gold has dropped about $100 an ounce to $4,790 from a record high of $4,887. Equity benchmarks in Australia and Japan rose around 1%, and in Seoul, the Kospi crossed 5,000 points for the first time.
Trump said after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Western Arctic allies could forge a new deal over Greenland that would satisfy his desire for a missile defence system and access to critical minerals.
But there were no details.
The VIX index, nicknamed Wall Street’s fear gauge, sharply fell back towards baseline levels and U.S. Treasuries, which had been sold through the week, caught a bid.
Asian shares extend selloff, global bond rout stokes fresh anxiety.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were down one basis point in Tokyo trade to 4.24%, after falling four bps in New York. Japanese government bonds started the day steady after a wild week where election spending promises triggered a historic rout in long-dated paper.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain, appreciating 0.01% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.87, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 1,069.31 million from 1,325.60 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs49.15 billion from Rs69.58 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 195.89 million shares, followed by Hascol Petrol with 131.51 million shares, and Bank Makramah with 57.61 million shares.
Shares of 486 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 238 registered an increase, 201 recorded a fall, and 47 remained unchanged.
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