PSX climbs over 1,000 points by Friday midday break

KSE-100 rebounds as banks, energy stocks lift index 0.6% ahead of prayers

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rebounded on Friday over a 1,000 points before suspension of trading at midday for the regular Jummah prayers break. The benchmark KSE-100 Index stood at 178,434.59, up 1,060.83 points or 0.60% from the previous close.

The index opened the morning session lower but recovered steadily, touching an intraday high of 178,434.59 and a low of 176,865.05. By the 12:00pm suspension, it had fully reversed Thursday’s sharp decline.

Trading volume in the ready market reached about 90 million shares, with the value of shares traded at roughly Rs9.83 billion. Activity remained moderate ahead of the scheduled break.

Read: KSE-100 sheds over 1,700 points amid uncertainty

Buying interest was visible in commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies and refineries. Index-heavy names including ARL, PRL, MARI, POL, PSO, SSGC, HBL, MCB, NBP and UBL traded in the green. MARI stood out among the gainers.

The recovery followed a volatile Thursday session in which the KSE-100 climbed early toward the 180,000 level before renewed selling pressure, linked to domestic political uncertainty, erased the gains and pushed the index down 1,710 points to close at 177,373.76.

Market participants noted selective interest in energy and banking stocks after the previous day’s profit-taking. Investors will watch whether the morning recovery holds in the afternoon session amid lingering caution near recent highs.