PSX touches historic high, crosses 146k mark in intraday trade

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its bullish momentum on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed the 146,000 mark for the first time in intraday trade, reflecting continued investor optimism and strong market sentiment.

The index opened in positive territory and continued to climb steadily, touching an all-time high of 146,081.02 points around 12:37 PM, a gain of 992.53 points from the previous close. Trading volumes were also robust at that hour, with over 180 million shares changing hands.

As of 1:54 PM, the KSE-100 Index was recorded at 145,410.21, up by 321.72 points or 0.22 percent, while the day’s volume reached 226.15 million shares. The intraday low was noted at 145,250.17 points. The previous day’s close had stood at 145,088.49 points. Thursday’s trade range remained between 145,250.17 and the record high of 146,081.02.

The stock market’s one-year performance shows an impressive growth of 88.56 percent, while the year-to-date (YTD) gain now stands at 26.30 percent. Total traded value during the session hovered above Rs30.3 billion, indicating sustained participation from both institutional and retail investors.

The rally comes on the back of a solid earnings season, improving macroeconomic indicators, and steady foreign inflows. The fiscal outlook has also supported the market’s sentiment, with the government’s reported deficit narrowing to 5.4 percent for FY25, the lowest in nine years.

Investors also cheered corporate milestones, such as the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) surpassing the $1 billion market capitalisation mark during Wednesday’s session, which lifted its stock by nearly 10 percent and secured its place among the 15 most valuable companies on the PSX.

Top gainers and losers

Among the day’s top gainers were PASM (up 13.74 percent), PKGI (10.66 percent), and UNITY (10.01 percent). Other notable advancers included MWMP, KML, DAAG, and BAFS, all rising by around 10 percent each. On the losing side, GEMBLUEX and GEMPACRA fell sharply by nearly 10 percent, followed by PIM, CFL, and QUET with losses ranging from 7 to 10 percent.

Thursday’s surge follows Wednesday’s strong session, which had ended with the index at 145,088.49, a gain of over 2,051 points or 1.43 percent. That rally had also seen an intraday high of 145,187.17 and a total volume of 383.5 million shares.

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