Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index closing with a gain of over 700 points on Thursday.
Positive momentum persisted throughout the trading session, pushing the KSE-100 to an intra-day high of 163,817.82.
At close, the benchmark index was hovering at 162,936.93, a gain of 710.66 points or 0.44%.
“The day’s movement reflected a tug of war between cautious bears attempting to cap the rally and resolute bulls defending the upward trajectory,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Index-heavy stocks including MARI, HUBC, OGDC, PPL, and SYS posted notable gains, collectively adding 476 points to the benchmark. On the flip side, MEBL, FFC, POL, and EFERT together shaved 100 points off the index, it added.
Pakistan’s Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector showed signs of recovery as it registered a growth of 4.08% in the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26, compared to the same period of last year.
On the corporate front, Ghani Chemical Industries Limited (GCIL), a major producer of medical and industrial gases, has announced a transformative Rs14 billion joint venture with Mari Energies Limited, marking a significant development in Pakistan’s energy and chemical sectors.
On Wednesday, PSX closed firmly in positive territory, despite a decline in overall trading volumes and mixed market breadth. The benchmark KSE-100 Index advanced by 1,291.15 points to settle at 162,226.28, marking an increase of 0.8%.
Globally, a relief rally swept across Asian markets and lifted stocks in early trading on Thursday as investors cheered Nvidia’s market-topping earnings, while the dollar rose as traders braced for the release of delayed jobs data.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6%, rebounding from a one-month low, after Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue well above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday.
CEO Jensen Huang touted blockbuster demand for its AI chips from giant cloud providers and shrugged off concerns about an AI bubble.
S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 1.1%.
Stocks on Wall Street had snapped a four-day losing streak on Wednesday before the earnings release.
All three major indexes rebounded from the selloff as the world’s most valuable company’s earnings report tempered the AI valuation fears that had triggered the rout.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded marginal improvement against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 280.65, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 725.87 million from 1,029.78 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs35.32 billion from Rs45.18 billion in the previous session.
Bank Makramah was the volume leader with 104.00 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 71.45 million shares, and F. Nat.Equities with 37.95 million shares.
Shares of 476 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 205 registered an increase, 187 recorded a fall, and 39 remained unchanged.
