Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 600 points during the opening hours of trading on Friday.
At 9:20am, the benchmark index was hovering at 115,705.29 level, an increase of 611.06 points or 0.53%.
Buying momentum 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 key development, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs7,346 billion during the first eight months (July-February) 2024-25 against the target of Rs7,947 billion, reflecting a massive shortfall of Rs601 billion.
The FBR data revealed that the FBR had provisionally collected Rs850 billion during February 2025, against the target of Rs983 billion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs133 billion.
On Thursday, buying momentum 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, Asia shares rose on Friday and global markets attempted a rebound after a brutal selloff, while gold reached a record as an escalation of global trade tensions left investors nervous and sparked a flight to safe-haven assets.
Relief over the likely aversion of a US government shutdown boosted stocks in early Asian trade, after Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said he would vote to advance a Republican stopgap funding bill, signalling that his party would provide the necessary support.
US stock futures rose sharply in response, with the Nasdaq up 0.87% and S&P 500 futures advancing 0.7%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.2% higher, though was on track to lose more than 2% for the week, as global trade disputes battered global stocks.
In the latest in a long list of tariff threats, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would hit imports of European wine and spirits with duties of 200% if the EU did not remove retaliatory surcharges on American whiskey and other products that come into effect next month.
This is an intra-day update
