ISLAMABAD: Buying returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) amid investors’ confidence, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 2,787.36 points on Friday.
By the close of trading, the index settled at 114,113.93, marking an increase of 2.50%.
The buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and refinery. Index-heavy stocks ARL, PRL, HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, and NBP traded in the green.
According to market experts, the positivity in the market is due to growing expectations of a de-escalation in tensions between Pakistan and India.
In April, Pakistan’s stock market suffered due to rising tensions with India as the benchmark KSE-100 shed over 6,480 points on a monthly basis.
On Friday, a total of 372,363,708 shares were traded as compared to 490,948,134 shares on the last trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 23.285 billion against Rs 31.124 billion on the previous working day.
As many as 455 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 331 of them recorded gains, and 63 met losses, whereas the share price of 51 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were Sui South Gas with 29,319,891 shares at Rs 40.25 per share, followed by Cnergyico PK with 27,367,683 shares at Rs 7.11 per share, whereas Bank of Punjab settled with 20,836,529 shares at Rs 9.69 per share.
PIA Holding Company Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 436.63 per share, closing at Rs 4,802.96, whereas Hoechst Pakistan Limited was the runner-up with Rs 223.37 increase in its share price to close at Rs 3,173.37.
Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 461.63 per share price, closing at Rs 23,008.12, whereas the runner-up Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited settled with a drop of Rs 30.05 in its per share price to Rs 1,162.34.
Asian stock markets and US futures climbed on Friday, buoyed by renewed hopes of trade negotiations between the US and China. This optimism helped lift investor sentiment, which had been dampened by disappointing earnings from tech giants Apple and Amazon, raising concerns about the economic impact of ongoing tariffs.
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that the US has repeatedly signaled its interest in resuming tariff discussions, adding that Beijing remains open to talks.
The remarks prompted a rebound in US stock futures, which had earlier declined after Apple scaled back its share buyback program and warned that tariffs could increase its costs by approximately $900 million this quarter.
