KSE-100 sees record 3,410-point gain, settles at historic high of 76,208

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened on an overwhelmingly positive note in the post-budget session as the benchmark KSE-100 index crossed the 76,000 level to settle at a new record high on Thursday.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 76,208.16, an increase of 3,410.73 points or 4.69%.

This is the highest gain in terms of points in a single session, said brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a note.

Across-the-board buying was witnessed among key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, engineering, oil and gas marketing companies, OMCs and refinery.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced Pakistan’s federal budget 2024-25, targeting a modest 3.6% growth for the coming fiscal year, as Islamabad looked to appease the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and balance its burgeoning books with higher taxation.

Analysts said the budget FY25 is overall positive for the market as the government has not changed the treatment of Capital Gain Tax (CGT) to normal tax.

“Overall, the budgetary measures are positive in a sense that the government has shown intent to bring tax reforms, especially taking stringent measures against non-filers,” Sana Tawfik, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited (AHL), told Business Recorder.

Moreover, the government has also proposed no change in tax rates for dividends income for both filers and non-filers.

“This is positive for market as there were some news reports suggesting tax on dividend income will go up,” said Topline Securities in a note.

Cement and engineering stocks reacted positively to the increase in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by the government.

“Although FED (Federal Excise Duty) was increased on cement, which will be passed on to the customers, the increase in PSDP pushed the sector into positive,” said Tawfik.

Presenting the budgetary proposals in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said Rs1.4 trillion have been earmarked for PSDP.

However, most textile stocks remained in the red during the trading session.

“The government has proposed to bring exporters into the normal tax regime, which is a negative for the textile sector,” she added.

On Wednesday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index gained over 200 points to settle at 72,797.43.

Globally, Asian equities rallied on Thursday, while bond yields slid, as investors weighed cooling US inflation against a more hawkish posture by the Federal Reserve.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.9%, with Taiwan stocks jumping 1.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up nearly 1%, buoyed by the US S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq closing at record highs overnight.

US futures pointed to further gains, with S&P futures up 0.2% and Nasdaq futures adding 0.6%.

Japan’s Nikkei edged up 0.1% after an initial tech-led advance fizzled.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee appreciated marginally against the US dollar, gaining 0.2% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.10, a gain of Re0.51 against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 635.53 million from 293.08 million a session ago.

The value of shares rose to Rs3075 billion from Rs10.54 billion in the previous session.

K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 66.84 million shares, followed by Fauji Cement with 39.8 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 21.75 million shares.

Shares of 425 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 294 registered an increase, 87 recorded a fall, while 44 remained unchanged.