There was no stopping the bulls at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index etching new records, hitting the 179,000 level for the first time during the second half of the trading session on Friday.
Bullish momentum prevailed throughout the trading session, pushing the KSE-100 Index to an intra-day high of 179,411.07.
At 2:55pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 179,220.99, an increase of 2,865.50 points or 1.62%.
Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertilisers, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, ARL, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, PSO, HBL, NBP and UBL, traded in the green.
“The record rally at PSX is largely driven by new-year positioning, strong liquidity, and expectations of further monetary easing,” Saad Hanif, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, told media.
The analyst noted that with inflation easing and real rates peaking, the market is pricing in a 50bps [basis points] policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
“This is improving equity appeal against fixed income,” he said.
“Moreover, improving macroeconomic stability, a stable PKR, and better earnings visibility, especially in banks and cyclical have supported a forward-looking re-rating of equities.”
Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 5.6% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in December 2025, showed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data, a reading in line with the Ministry of Finance estimate of 5.5-6.5%.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $21.012 billion as of December 26, 2025, showing a marginal decline from $21.023 billion recorded a week earlier on December 19, according to statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
On Thursday, PSX kicked off 2026 with a resounding surge, as broad-based buying drove all major indices higher, marking a confident and bullish start to the New Year. The benchmark KSE-100 Index registered a sharp gain of 2,301.17 points, or 1.32%, to close at 176,355.49 points.
Internationally, stocks began 2026 on a positive note in holiday-thinned trade as investors braced for a year set to test the AI-led rally, usher in a change of guard at the Federal Reserve and potentially more market turbulence under Donald Trump’s presidency.
Moves across asset classes were muted with momentum in early trade carrying over from a year-end rally, while liquidity remained low due to the holidays. Markets in Japan and China were closed in Asia, while others returned from the New Year festivities.
Elsewhere, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.66% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.24%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.29%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.36%.
European futures were mixed, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures down 0.5% and FTSE futures rising 0.1%.
This is an intra-day update
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