ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with its bullish momentum on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 254 points.
Strong buying interest was observed in key sectors, including commercial banking, cement, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and refineries, driving the market upwards. Index-heavy stocks traded in the green, including PSO, SHEL, SNGPL, NRL, PRL, HBL, MCB, and UBL.
The KSE-100 index closed at 113,342.44 points, up from the previous day’s close of 113,088,48 points a positive change of 0.22 per cent. Intraday, the KSE-100 index surged by 941 points, showing a high level of investor optimism.
A total of 667,719,653 shares were entertained during the day as compared to 545,005,593 shares the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 25.734 billion against Rs 20.741 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 451 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 236 of them registered gains, and 146 met losses, whereas the share price of 69 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were K-Electric Limited with 180,890,168 shares at Rs 4.88 per share followed by Bank of Punjab with 53,761,800 shares at Rs 12.94 per share whereas Fauji Cement settled with 38,112,842 shares at Rs 40.55 per share.
Sapphire Fibres Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 59.03 per share closing at Rs 1,098.99 whereas Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited was the runner-up with Rs 41.96 rise in its share price to close at Rs 23,387.51.
Lucky Cement Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 57.48 per share price, closing at Rs 1,402.17, whereas the runner-up was Blessed Textile Limited with a fall of Rs 30.39 in its per share price to Rs.313.73.
On Tuesday, positive momentum returned at the PSX with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,345 points to settle at 113,088.48.
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In a notable development, Pakistan’s current account recorded a deficit of $420 million in January 2025, marking a 4% rise compared to the $404 million deficit in the same month last year, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Asian stocks fluctuated following record highs in the S&P 500 and European shares. The market response came after US President Donald Trump made fresh tariff threats on auto, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports.
Since Trump’s inauguration four weeks ago, he has imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, in addition to existing tariffs. He has also announced a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada, though the implementation of these tariffs has been delayed by a month.
