Weekly Market Roundup

April 27, 2025 (MLN): The week got off to a strong start on the back of improved macros; however, rising Indo-Pak tensions soon cast a shadow over investor sentiment, keeping participants on their toes. As a result, the local market came under selling pressure for most of the week.

Accordingly, the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 1,846.24 points, or -1.57%, to settle at 115,469.34 compared to last week’s close of 117,315.58.

Intraday swings were significant, with the index reaching a high of 119217.19 (+3,747.85 points) and a low of 113,716.6 (-1,752.74 points).

Market cap

The KSE-100 market capitalization stood at Rs3.49 trillion, down 1.6% from the previous week’s Rs3.55tr. In USD terms, the market cap was recorded at $12.43 billion, compared to $12.65bn in the prior week.

This week, the index return in USD terms was -1.66%, compared to 2.05% the previous week.

On the economic front, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Jameel Ahmad said that foreign exchange reserves are expected to reach $14bn by the end of June and economic growth is projected to be around 3%.

The Governor reaffirmed Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic stability and outlook during high-level meetings with senior executives from global financial and investment institutions, including JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, Deutsche, Jefferies, and major credit rating agencies.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP decreased by $366.5 million or 3.47% WoW to $10.21bn during the week ended on April 18, 2025.

In addition, World Liberty Financial (WLF) the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by the U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a landmark Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) to accelerate blockchain innovation, stablecoin adoption, and decentralized finance (DeFi) integration across Pakistan.

The positive economic cues helped stabilize investor sentiment, pushing the KSE-100 index’s fiscal year-to-date returns to 47.19%, while CYTD return stood at .03%.

Top Index Movers

During the week, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies, Commercial Banks, and Technology & Communication dragged the index by -593.71, -295.02, and -209.94 points, respectively. On the flip side, Fertilizer added only 161.5 points to the index.

Among individual stocks, UBL, MARI, and EFERT lost -506.79, -368.53, and -225.33, respectively. Conversely, FFC and MEBL added 402.54, and 236.58 points, respectively.

FIPI/LIPI

This week, foreign investors remained net buyers, purchasing equities worth $2.08m.

Foreign corporates led the buying spree with purchases worth $1.6m.

On the other hand, local investors were net sellers, offloading equities worth $2.08m.

Banks & DFIs and broker proprietary trading desks sold securities worth $3.99m and $2.01m, respectively, while other organizations purchased securities worth $4.81m.

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