ISLAMABAD: Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 400 points on Friday.
At the end of the session, the index stood at 115,536.16 points, marking an increase of 441.93 points or 0.38 per cent.
Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PSO, SSGC, MEBL, HBL and UBL traded in the green.
In a significant development, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs7,346 billion during the first eight months (July-February) of 2024-25, falling short of the target of Rs7,947 billion, resulting in a substantial shortfall of Rs601 billion.
FBR data showed that, for February 2025, the provisional collection stood at Rs850 billion, against the target of Rs983 billion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs133 billion.
On Friday a total of 360,456,374 shares were entertained as compared to 382,791,629 shares the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at 21,039 billion against Rs 25.407 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 435 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 195 of them registered gains, and 169 met losses, whereas the share price of 71 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were Pak International Bulk with 42,700,806 shares at Rs 9.92 per share followed by Bank of Punjab with 36,140,223 shares at Rs 13.09 per share whereas Fauji Foods Limited settled with 25,615,139 shares at Rs 16.06 per share.
Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 195.80 per share closing at Rs 23,413.00 whereas Mari Energies Limited was the runner-up with Rs 28.04 increase in its share price to close at Rs 605.66.
Rafhan Maize Products Company Foods Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 80.16 per share price, closing at Rs 9,099.84, whereas the runner-up was PIA Holding Company LimitedB with a drop of Rs 71.55 in its per share price to Rs 856.92.
On Thursday, buying was observed at the PSX, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing at 115,094.23 level amid an increase of 1,009.70 points.
Internationally, shares in Asia rose on Friday, and global markets attempted a rebound following a severe sell-off, while gold hit a record high as an escalation of global trade tensions left investors uneasy and triggered a flight to safe-haven assets.
