The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday continued its positive momentum with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 1,700 points.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 181,776.59 points, an increase of 1,761.66 points or 0.98%.
Buying activity was witnessed across major sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and power generation firms.
The latest gains followed a strong performance on Wednesday, when the PSX staged a major recovery and the KSE-100 Index crossed the psychologically important 180,000-point mark after 16 trading sessions.
The benchmark index closed Wednesday’s session at 180,014.93 points, gaining 2,931.71 points or 1.66%.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 25.17% year-on-year (YoY) to $3.948 billion in July 2026, compared with $3.15 billion in the same month last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The PBS reported that exports stood at $2.939 billion in July 2026, while imports reached $6.887 billion. In July 2025, exports were recorded at $2.683 billion and imports at $5.837 billion.
In global markets, oil prices declined on Thursday as investors monitored developments in Iran-Oman talks and assessed the possibility of progress towards a US-Iran agreement that could end the five-month conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $79.08 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures dropped 53 cents, or 0.7%, to $74.69 a barrel.
