RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed lower as investors adopted a cautious stance amid uncertainty surrounding the outcome of IMF driven new taxes in the upcoming budget.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 778 points or 0.65 percent, closing at 119,153 points on Thursday compared to 119,931 points on Wednesday. During the intraday trading, the benchmark KSE-100 index crossed the 120,000 points, however, the index couldn’t maintain this level due to selling pressure.

On Thursday, BRIndex100 ended at 12,769.16 points, which was 100.61 points or 0.78 percent lower than the previous close with the total volume of 479.32 million shares. Meanwhile, BRIndex30 decreased by 532.49 points or 1.39 percent to settle at 37,664.59 points with the total share trading volume of 42.77 million.

Analysts said that the stocks remained in consolidation mode during today’s session, with the index fluctuating within a limited range, facing resistance near the 120,000 points before closing. Topline Research attributed the decline to falling global oil prices, which weighed heavily on oil-related stocks.

In terms of trading activity, the ready market turnover significantly dropped from the previous session’s 667.685 million shares to 589.772 million shares. However, the share trading value increased to Rs 30.813 billion compared to 26.624 billion a day earlier. Overall market capitalization declined by Rs 71 billion to Rs 14.383 trillion as against Rs 14.454 trillion a day earlier. Out of the total 466 active trading companies, share value of 195 companies went up, while 229 companies’ share value moved in minus and share value of 42 companies remained unchanged.

Moreover, among the most actively traded companies, K-Electric Ltd. ranked first with 42.77 million shares closing at Rs 4.71, followed by Bank Makramah, which 28 million shares were traded and it closed at Rs 3.77. Ghani GloHol ranked third and closed at Rs 16.71 with 27.64 million shares.

PIA Holding Company LimitedB recorded the highest gains increase by Rs 1,658.12 and closed at a new high of Rs 18,239.28 followed by Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited whose share price closed at Rs 10,938.05, up by Rs 475.61. Moreover, Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited and Otsuka Pakistan Limited faced remarkable losses with share values decreased by Rs 34.87 and Rs 33.42 respectively to close at Rs 1,306.95 and Rs 300.77.

Meanwhile, BR Automobile Assembler Index closed at 21,796.30 points with a net negative change of 137.16 points or 0.63 percent with total turnover remaining 7.41 million shares. BR Cement Index settled at 10,039.52 points with a negative change of 158.33 points or 1.55 percent and a total turnover of 50.30 million.

BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 34,939.53 points down by 132.37 points or 0.38 percent with a total turnover of 57.65 million shares. On the other hand, BR Power Generation and Distribution Index ended at 19,931.97 points with a negative change of 110.14 points or 0.55 percent with total turnover of 59.73 million shares.

BR Oil & Gas Index closed at 11,610.39 points with a net negative change of 138 points or 1.17 percent on 39.165 million shares turnover. While BR Technology & Communication Index finished at 5,062.94 points marking a change of 131.98 points or 2.68 percent up, with total turnover of 47.49 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed under pressure in the pre-budget session at PSX amid uncertainty over outcome of IMF driven new tax measures proposed for oil, fertilizer and auto sector in the federal budget FY26. He said that the continued security unrest, escalating tensions with India and rupee instability also played a catalyst role in bearish close.