The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the final session of the week in the red, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 550 points amid late-session selling on Friday.
Trading kicked off on a positive note, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 172,674.65.
However, the trend reversed during the final minutes of trading as investors booked profits in select stocks, dragging the index to an intra-day low of 171,149.07.
At close, the KSE-100 settled at 171,404.48, a decrease of 556.16 points or 0.32%
On a corporate front, Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited (RMPL) received a firm intention from Nishat Group–linked entities and members of the Mansha family to acquire control and up to 75.69% of its voting shares.
Top positive contribution to the index came from LUCK, SYS, UBL, MEBL and MARI, as they cumulatively contributed 319 points to the index; on the flip side HBL, MLCF, ENGROH, FFC and BAFL lost value to weigh down on the index by 366 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said.
On Thursday, PSX continued its remarkable upward trajectory as the index surged to a new historic closing high, supported by declining Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields, encouraging macroeconomic indicators, and heightened merger and acquisition activity across key sectors. The KSE-100 Index advanced by 1,646.79 points or 0.97%.
The KSE-100 Index increased 1% on week-on-week basis.
“This positivity can be accredited to cut in policy rate by 50bps in monetary policy meeting held on Monday to 10.5%; which came as a surprise as majority of the participants were expecting rate to remain unchanged,” Topline said.
Internationally, Asian share markets rebounded on Friday as a turnaround in tech lifted Wall Street, leaving investors counting down to a likely hike in interest rates from the Bank of Japan that could cause waves for currencies and bonds.
Sentiment also got a boost from a shock slowdown in US consumer price inflation to 2.7%, though analysts cautioned the data were clearly distorted lower by the government shutdown and could not be taken at face value.
Pricing for the Federal Reserve moved only marginally, with a rate cut in January implied at just 27%, while March nudged up to 58% from 54% before the data.
Markets imply around a 90% chance the BOJ will raise its rate a quarter point to 0.75% later Friday, with much resting on the outlook for further tightening ahead.
Investors are wagering on just one further move to 1.0% in 2026, and any hint of more could offer much-needed support to the embattled yen, but also pile pressure on government bonds.
For now, markets were content to follow Wall Street’s lead, and Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.6%. South Korea climbed 1.2% encouraged by stellar results from chipmaker Micron Technology.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee saw marginal improvement against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the local currency settled at 280.25, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 797.53 million from 950.14 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs42.22 billion from Rs54.07 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 116.03 million shares, followed by Bank Makramah with 24.75 million shares, and Cres.Star Ins. with 23.05 million shares.
Shares of 485 companies were traded on Friday, of which 179 registered an increase, 260 recorded a fall, and 46 remained unchanged.
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