Buying continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the fourth consecutive session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing higher by 931 points on Wednesday.
The bulls remained dominant throughout the session, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 188,312.21.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 187,832.08, up by 931.34 points or 0.50%.
Performance was primarily supported by gains in key index heavyweights, including MEBL, ENGROH, NBP, UBL, and HMB, which collectively added 740 points to the benchmark. However, the advances were partially offset by losses in SYS, EFERT, and PPL, which together detracted 149 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Interloop Limited (ILP), one of Pakistan’s largest textile exporters, posted a sharp surge in profitability as its profit-after-tax (PAT) for the half-year ended December 31, 2025, jumped nearly 300% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs5.90 billion. The company recorded Rs1.48 billion PAT in the same period of 2024 (1HFY25).
On Tuesday, buying momentum continued at the PSX as the KSE-100 Index closed the day higher by 1%.
Asian stocks were on shaky ground on Wednesday, following steep losses in US and European equities on fears that advancements in artificial intelligence could supplant traditional software.
Oil prices climbed after the US shot down an Iranian drone and armed boats approached a US-flagged vessel in a key waterway, while precious metals found a firmer footing after a recent rout.
A selloff among US and European data analytics, professional services and software companies deepened after Anthropic’s launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday sparked worries of an AI-fuelled disruption to those industries.
Selling pressure was, however, less acute in Asia, given the region’s historical dominance in hardware manufacturing.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.23%.
Nasdaq futures slipped 0.25% after losing more than 1% in the cash session overnight, while S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dipped 0.07%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At close, the local currency settled at 279.72, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 1,195.26 million from 848.56 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs44.10 billion from Rs50.02 in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 590.87 million shares, followed by Waves Home App with 36.31 million shares, and F. Nat.Equities with 32.94 million shares.
Shares of 483 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 246 registered an increase, 188 recorded a fall, and 49 remained unchanged.
American Dollar Exchange Rate