The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at record high on Friday, a day after the National Assembly (NA) passed the Finance Bill, 2025.
The bulls largely maintained their grip over the market, taking the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 125,285.05.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 124,379.07, up by 2,332.60 points or 1.91%.
“Bull dominated today’s trading session on aggressive buying by local institutions, as the KSE-100 Index increased 1.9% to close at its ever high level,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
“This buying by local institutions can be attributed to fresh liquidity on rumored new year allocations towards equity funds,” it added.
Top positive contribution to the index came from FFC, LUCK, MEBL, POL, ENGROH, EFERT and OGDC, as they cumulatively contributed 1,044 points to the index, Topline said.
Ali Najib from Arif Habib Limited said the PSX had a strong momentum since Friday morning, courtesy to institutional driven buying ahead of FY26 re-allocation towards equities.
“In addition, yesterday’s National Assembly budget approval also taken positively by investors community,” he said.
On week-on-week basis, the KSE-100 gained 3.63%.
“This gain can be attributed to ceasefire between Israel & Iran during the week bringing an end to geopolitical tensions, which triggered buying by investors before fiscal year end,” Topline said.
The NA on Thursday passed the Finance Bill, 2025, with a total outlay of Rs17.57 trillion, for fiscal year 2025-26, incorporating certain amendments, with the support of its coalition partners.
The bill was passed clause by clause, with all opposition-proposed amendments rejected.
The PSX experienced a turbulent session on Thursday as the KSE-100 plunged amid persistent selling pressure and cautious investor sentiment. The benchmark index lost 715.18 points, closing at 122,046.46.
Internationally, Asia shares hit their highest level in more than three years on Friday as they tracked a Wall Street rally, though the dollar struggled on concerns about the Federal Reserve’s independence and expectations for early rate cuts.
Stock indexes worldwide look set to end the week on a positive note, with worries about tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over tariffs and trade deals on the back burner for now.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan touched its strongest level since November 2021 early in the session. It last traded 0.2% higher and is set to clock a 3% gain for the week.
Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.5% and surpassed the 40,000 mark for the first time in five months.
Reasons for the upbeat mood included news that Washington has reached an agreement with Beijing on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the United States.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said on Thursday that he has asked Republicans in Congress to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from their tax and spending bill after Washington reached an agreement with Group of Seven industrial countries.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee posted marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.02% in the interbank market on Friday. At close, the currency settled at 283.72, a loss of Re0.05 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 773.41 million from 758.54 million recorded in the previous close.
The value of shares rose to Rs37.57 billion from Rs29.93 billion in the previous session.
Bank Makramah was the volume leader with 79.75 million shares, followed by Ghani Glo Hol with 27.67 million shares, and Pervez Ahmed Co with 24.85 million shares.
Shares of 484 companies were traded on Friday, of which 334 registered an increase, 116 recorded a fall, while 34 remained unchanged.
