Weekly Market Roundup

April 05, 2025 (MLN): A two-day trading week after the Eid holidays kicked off on a bullish note at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). On Friday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index had soared past the 120,000 mark for the first time in history.

Investor sentiment remained upbeat mainly due to the government’s move to cut electricity prices, cooling inflation, and renewed optimism surrounding the IMF program.

However, investors remained concerned as the United States imposed a 29% tariff on Pakistani exports, which raised questions about the country's future trade competitiveness.

Consequently, the KSE-100 Index settled the week at 119,179.45, up 984 points or 0.84% from last week’s close of 118,806.74.

Intraday swings were significant, with the index reaching a high of 120,796.67 (+2,005.01 points) and a low of 117,508.07 (-1,283.59 points).

Market cap

The KSE-100 market capitalization stood at Rs3.61 trillion, up 1.66% from the previous week’s Rs3.55tr. In USD terms, the market cap was recorded at $12.87 billion, compared to $12.67bn in the prior week.

This week, the index return in USD terms was 0.72%, compared to -0.5% the previous week.

On the economic front, Pakistan's inflation slowed to 0.7% in March 2025- hitting 59-year low, compared to 1.5% in the previous month and 20.68% in March 2024. 

The country's trade deficit stood at $2.12bn in March 2025, reflecting a 7.83% improvement compared to February 2025. 

In addition, the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $69.5 million or 0.66% WoW to $10.68 billion during the week ended on March 28, 2025

The positive economic cues helped stabilize investor sentiment, pushing the KSE-100 index’s fiscal year-to-date returns to 51.43%, while CYTD return stood at 3.18%.

Top Index Movers

During the week, Commercial Banks, Cement, and Fertilizer contributed 1790.74, 86.34, and 48.76 points, respectively to the index. On the flip side, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies and Inv. Banks lost - 410.22 and -173.68 points, respectively.

Among individual stocks, UBL added 1148.45 points to the index, while MEBL, and MCB contributed to the index by 264.66 and 122.94, respectively.

Conversely, FFC, SYS and ENGROH eroded -239.02, -198.46, and -159.75 points, respectively.

FIPI/LIPI

This week, Foreign Investors bought equities worth $7.38m.

Overseas Pakistanis led the buying spree worth $7.85m while Foreign Corporates sold securities worth $0.47m.

On the other hand, this week, local Investors were net sellers, selling equities worth $7.38m.

Insurance companies and Mutual Funds sold securities worth $8.82m and $6.54m, respectively, whereas Banks and DFIs bought securities worth $11.88m.

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