Pakistan stocks witness range-bound session amid pre-budget uncertainty

KARACHI: In a repeat of the last session, trading remained range bound at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday – the last working day the week – as the KSE-100 Index vacillated between its intraday highest gain of 389 points and a loss of 488 points.

By the time trading was closed, the KSE-100 Index was recorded at 119,102, down by 0.02 per cent.

“Stocks closed lower amid pre-budget uncertainty and concerns over weak exports,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities said.

Investor concerns over the IMF-driven new tax measures proposed for exporters, industrialists, National Assembly’s approval of ‘Off-the-Grid (CPPs) Levy Bill’ impacting industrials, and an instable rupee played the catalysts role in a negative close, Mehanti added.

Top positive contribution to the index acme from ENGRO, ATRL, PKGP, MEBL and PSEL, as they cumulatively added 280 points to the index. On the other hand, FFC, MCB, SYS, MARI, PPL, HBL, HUBC and EFERT performed negatively, as they lost value to weigh down on the index by -257 points.

The benchmark index closed relatively flat, experiencing some volatility amid lacklustre volumes.

“Investors adopted a wait and see approach while navigating ahead of the FY26 budget, preferring to stay on sidelines until clearer signals emerge,” Ismail Iqbal Securities stated.

When it comes to the traded value, ATRL (Rs1.49bn), FCEPL (Rs1.01bn), MARI (Rs.564mn), HUBC (Rs557mn) and PPL (Rs505mn) dominated the activity.

On the other hand, the overall trading volume and value for the day stood at 337mn shares (down by -43 per cent day-to-day) and Rs18.5bn/$656mn (down by -40 per cent day-to-day) respectively.