KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged a strong recovery on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index surging more than 1,200 points in early trading as investors returned to the market following three consecutive bearish sessions.
The upbeat opening came a day after the benchmark index extended its losing streak, closing nearly 500 points lower on Thursday amid persistent profit-taking and cautious investor sentiment.
Within the first few minutes of trading on Friday, the KSE-100 Index jumped 1,139.86 points (0.65%) to 176,687.84, signalling a sharp turnaround in market sentiment. Buying momentum strengthened further over the next five minutes, lifting the benchmark 1,268.25 points (0.72%) to 176,816.23.
The rally was broad-based, with 290 stocks advancing against just 60 decliners, while 213 issues remained unchanged, reflecting widespread buying across the market.
Trading activity also gathered pace. By 9:30am, more than 58.56 million shares had changed hands in 19,636 transactions, with a traded value exceeding Rs1.72 billion, compared with 44.47 million shares worth Rs1.29 billion five minutes earlier.
The positive momentum extended beyond the benchmark index. The All Share Index advanced 744.94 points (0.70%), the KSE-30 Index gained 298.67 points (0.57%), while the KMI-30 rose 1,921.44 points (0.77%), indicating broad-based buying across key sectors.
Market participants said Friday’s rebound reflected renewed value buying after the recent correction, with investors taking positions in fundamentally strong stocks following three consecutive sessions of losses.
Analysts also pointed to improving investor sentiment following Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s address to the business community on Thursday, in which he acknowledged that Pakistan’s existing administrative system had “collapsed” and called for serious consideration of creating new administrative units or provinces to improve governance and public service delivery.
Market participants viewed the remarks as an indication that the government may be willing to pursue structural governance reforms alongside ongoing economic measures, although no formal policy announcement has yet been made.
Despite Friday’s strong opening, analysts cautioned that it is too early to conclude that the market has reversed its recent downtrend.
They said investors will closely monitor whether institutional buying remains strong throughout the session, as sustained demand will be essential for the benchmark KSE-100 Index to consolidate above the 176,000-point level and recover further ground lost earlier this week.
