ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surged to an all-time intra-day high on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index briefly crossing the 134,000 mark.
However, the gains proved short-lived as profit-taking by investors pulled the index back, leading to a largely flat close.
The market opened on a positive note but quickly slipped, hitting an intra-day low of 132,696 points.
Volatility persisted throughout the first half of the session. The index later recovered and climbed steadily to touch a new record high of 134,200 points before retracing most of its gains.
By the close of trading, the KSE-100 index had added just 33.04 points, or 0.02 percent, to settle at 133,403.19.
Arif Habib Limited (AHL), a leading brokerage house, noted in its daily report that despite rising above 134,000 points during the session, the market ended flat on a day-on-day basis.
The brokerage attributed the tepid close to investors locking in gains after a strong upward trend in recent sessions.
AHL highlighted that profit-taking was visible in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, cement, fertilisers, oil and gas exploration, and power generation.
Among major contributors to index gains were Habib Metropolitan Bank (+3.87 percent), Askari Bank (+6.16 percent), and Meezan Bank (+0.95 percent).
Meanwhile, Fauji Fertiliser Company (-0.52 percent), Systems Limited (-1.09 percent), and Engro Fertilisers (-0.91 percent) were among the biggest drags.
Market Snapshot – July 8, 2025
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According to AHL, the KSE-100 index is forecast to deliver a return of 27.4 percent in FY26.
The firm expects corporate earnings to grow by 14 percent excluding banks and exploration and production companies, while overall earnings growth across all sectors is projected at 9.2 percent.
“Near-term index support now resides between 132,000 and 133,000 points, where a resumption of the upward trend is anticipated,” the report added.
Trading activity remained strong, with total volume reaching 1.2 billion shares, up from 919.9 million shares on Monday.
The value of shares traded was recorded at Rs42 billion. In total, 480 companies’ stocks were traded; of these, 217 advanced, 231 declined, and 32 remained unchanged.
Earlier in the day, selling pressure dominated early trading. At 10:15 am, the index was down 501 points at 132,868.89.
However, by 2:10 pm, it had rebounded sharply, reaching 134,113.67 points — an increase of over 740 points from the low.
On Monday, the PSX had continued its record-breaking rally, driven by strong corporate earnings expectations, easing trade-related concerns, and improved macroeconomic indicators.
