The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a mixed session on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions before closing the last day of the financial year 2023-24 nearly flat.
The KSE-100 saw some buying in the first half, hitting an intra-day high of 78,784.23.
However, profit-taking in the latter hours erased the gains and pushed the index into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 78,444.96, down by 83.29 points or 0.11%.
“The equity market remained relatively flat on the last trading day of the fiscal year,” brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said.
Commercial banks, power generation & distribution, and oil & gas exploration companies sectors remain major laggards on Friday.
On Thursday, positive sentiment had prevailed at the PSX as the KSE-100 closed in the green with a gain of 252.61 points.
Another brokerage house Topline Securities said a range-bound session was observed on the last trading session of the week as the index traded between its intra-day high of 266 points and intra-day low 216 points.
On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the KSE 100 gained 3.42%.
“This positivity in the market can be attributed to Federal Budget FY25 which was better than market expectations as tax rate on dividend and capital gain from stock market for filers was maintained, whereas tax rate on other asset classes was increased,” Topline Securities said.
In the financial year 2023-24, the benchmark index performed impressively, achieving a staggering 89.24% increase as market fundamentals continued to improve, Ismail Iqbal Securities said.
As per Arif Habib Limited (AHL), the KSE-100 stood as the “world’s best-performing market” in FY24 on the back of economic and political developments in the country.
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