Buying rally at PSX, KSE-100 Index gains nearly 1,900 points – Markets

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) kicked off the new year with a bang, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled above
the 117,000 level, amid a gain of nearly 1,900 points on Wednesday.

Bullish momentum persisted throughout the trading session, with the benchmark index hitting an intra-day high of 117,341.03.

At close, the benchmark index was hovering at 117,008.08, an increase of 1,881.18 points or 1.63%.

Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobiles, cement, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and pharmaceuticals.

Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, ENGRO, MCB and MEBL traded in the green.

Investor interest is fuelled by expectations of a further cut in policy rate in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is anticipated later this month.

In a key development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday rolled out ‘Uraan Pakistan’, a five-year national economic plan aimed at steering the country toward sustainable growth.

On Tuesday, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the last trading day of 2024 nearly flat, settling at 115,126.90, down by 132.09 points or 0.11.

PSX has experienced a remarkable comeback in the year 2024, following years of lacklustre performance. Stocks surged by 84.34%, making it the second-best-performing market globally, analysts said.

Over the last 18 months, the PSX has been the top-performing market in the world with a 178% gain. This represents the strongest performance in Pakistan’s 77-year history over such a short period.

“Despite this record-breaking rally, Pakistan stocks are still trading at an average forward P/E ratio of 6.3x, signalling the significant potential for further growth, “ said Muhammad Sohial, leading analyst and CEO of Topline Securities.

Internationally, India’s benchmark indexes were muted on Wednesday, the first session of 2025, with analysts expecting markets to drift sideways until the quarterly earnings season starts next week.

The Nifty 50 dipped by 0.11% at 23,617.75 points as of 9:35am IST, while the BSE Sensex was off 0.09% at 78,057.81.

Other Asian markets were also muted, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index down 0.1% as elevated U.S. Treasury yields continue to weigh on emerging markets.