Stocks climb as investors await IMF tranche | The Express Tribune
Shares of 324 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 90 stocks closed higher, 211 declined and 23 remained unchanged. PHOTO: FILE KARACHI: Bullish activity dominated trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, driving the benchmark KSE-100 index up by 1,278 points, as investors took cue from the potential disbursement of…
Shares of 324 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 90 stocks closed higher, 211 declined and 23 remained unchanged. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Bullish activity dominated trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, driving the benchmark KSE-100 index up by 1,278 points, as investors took cue from the potential disbursement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche in December.
Healthy buying by mutual funds also aided the positive momentum in the market, which closed at 161,935, up 0.80%. In the morning, trading opened on a subdued tone. However, a strong wave to accumulate stocks emerged in the latter half, propelling the index significantly higher.
It was largely driven by improved participation across major sectors and the index touched the intra-day peak at 162,119. Among economic data, the latest reading of the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended November 13, 2025 showed a 4.15% year-on-year climb and a 0.53% week-on-week increase.
KTrade Securities, in its market wrap, wrote that PSX delivered a mixed, yet broadly positive performance on Friday, extending momentum from the previous day’s strong rally.
The KSE-100 index gained 1,278 points, led primarily by banking, oil & gas, cement and power sectors. Heavyweight stocks such as Habib Bank, United Bank, Maple Leaf Cement, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Petroleum, Hub Power and Pioneer Cement drove the index higher, it said.
Despite the upward move, overall participation remained subdued. Looking ahead, KTrade expected the sentiment to remain sensitive to the law and order situation, the political landscape and key macroeconomic indicators.
In particular, investors would be closely monitoring progress on the upcoming IMF tranche as well as shifts in regional geopolitical dynamics, it added.
Arif Habib Limited (AHL) observed that the KSE-100 index gained 1.46% week-on-week to close just shy of 162k. On Friday, 69 shares rose while 30 fell with Habib Bank (+3.93%), Maple Leaf Cement (+6.39%) and Hub Power (+1.44%) contributing the most to index gains.
On the flip side, Lucky Cement (-0.9%), Cherat Cement (-3.09%) and Fauji Cement (-1.84%) were the biggest index drags, it said.
The IMF executive board was scheduled to meet on December 8 to consider Pakistan’s second review for the 37-month Extended Fund Facility and the first review for the 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility, AHL mentioned.
Also, the spectrum advisory committee, headed by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, will meet on Friday to finalise decisions for Pakistan’s first-ever 5G spectrum auction.
Overall trading volumes decreased to 673.5 million shares against Thursday’s tally of 797.2 million. The value of traded shares stood at Rs34.6 billion.
Stocks of 480 companies were traded. Of these, 276 closed higher, 155 slid and 49 remained unchanged.
Pace Pakistan was the volume leader with trading in 51.8 million shares, losing Rs1.47 to close at Rs27.61.
Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth Rs784.7 million, according to NCCPL.
