Stocks continued their upward rally on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index making history after crossing an all-time high of 95,000 mark during intraday trading.
According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 opened on a positive note and gained over 500 points in the early hours of trading. At 2:30 pm, the benchmark index touched 95,278.26 level, with an increase of 1086.37 points or 1.05% from the previous close of 94,191.89 points.
Key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, power generation, and refineries, witnessed high buying activity. Index heavyweights such as HUBCO, FFL, HASCOL, KEL, CNERGY, PSO, PPL, and MEBL were trading in positive territory.
Market analysts attributed this bull run to non-stop buying by local funds following a sharp decline in interest rates coupled with growing economic optimism as the visiting IMF has raised no concerns over Pakistan’s progress in meeting revenue collection targets
An IMF delegation, led by mission chief Nathan Porter, is in Pakistan for a staff visit to review recent developments and assess the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme’s performance.
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervaiz Malik on Thursday highlighted the IMF’s pending response on whether a mini-budget is necessary, following Pakistan’s Rs190 billion tax shortfall in the fiscal year’s first four months.
As part of a $7 billion IMF program, Pakistan pledged to enact additional taxes if monthly shortfalls exceed 1% of targets, a threshold already surpassed. The FBR is actively working to explain this shortfall, attributing it to economic assumptions that missed the mark.
Meanwhile, Islamabad High Court (IHC) has temporarily restrained the government from collecting up to 15% additional tax from banks that failed to meet private sector lending targets in 2024.
The PSX has been on a winning streak for some weeks mainly supported by increased investor confidence and improved economic indicators.
