Weekly Market Roundup

May 18, 2025 (MLN): Following a turbulent week, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed strong upward momentum this week. A ceasefire between Pakistan and India, the approval of the IMF’s first review, and the receipt of a $1.02 billion tranche in the same week significantly boosted market sentiment.

Amid improving conditions and renewed international confidence, investors dove into a buying frenzy on Monday.

The PSX kicked off the week on a bullish note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index surging by approximately 9,929 points in early trade, marking an impressive 9.2% gain.

By 9:35 AM, trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange was halted as the benchmark index soared to 116,650.12 points, triggering the market's upper circuit breaker.

On a weekly basis, the Index gained 12,474.51 points or 11.64% compared to the previous week’s close of 107,174.63.

Intraday swings were significant, with the index reaching a high of 120,506.17 (+857.03 points) and a low of 116,859.93 (-2,789.21 points).

Market cap

The KSE-100 market capitalization stood at Rs3.57 trillion, up 11.57% from the previous week’s Rs3.20tr. In USD terms, the market cap was recorded at $12.70 billion, compared to $11.38bn in the prior week.

This week, the index return in USD terms was 11.655%, compared to -6.29% the previous week.

On the economic front, Pakistan recorded a current account surplus of $12 million. Meanwhile, Pak Rupee’s Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) decreased by 2.09% in April 2025 to a provisional value of 99.42 from the revised value of 101.55 in March 2025.

In addition, the large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector of Pakistan recorded an increase of 1.79% in March 2025 to 117.20.  

Further, total inflows into Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) during April 2025 stood at $177 million, bringing the total cumulative inflows into RDA to $10.18 billion.

Moreover, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) conducted an auction on Wednesday in which it sold Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) worth Rs664.25 billion against the target of Rs550 billion while the maturity amount was Rs716bn.

The positive economic cues helped stabilise investor sentiment, pushing the KSE-100 index’s fiscal year-to-date returns to 52.52%, while CYTD return stood at 3.92%.

Top Index Movers

During the week, Commercial Banks, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies, Fertilizer, and Cement contributed 2,711.31, 1,936.84, 1,337.95, and 1,248.51 to the index, respectively.

Among individual stocks UBL, FFC, ENGROH and PPL added 921.92, 875.95, 810.52 and - 749.84, respectively.

FIPI/LIPI

This week, foreign investors remained net sellers, offloading equities worth $9.13m.

Foreign Corporates led the selling spree worth $7.66m while Overseas Pakistanis sold equities worth $1.53m.

On the other hand, local investors were net buyers this week, purchasing equities worth $9.13m.

Mutual Funds and Insurance Companies bought securities worth $39.23 and $4.79m, respectively, while Banks sold securities worth $20.6m.

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