The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started 2025 on a bumper note as the benchmark KSE-100 index surged over 1,600 points in early trade on Wednesday.
By 10:30 am, the index had touched 116,804 points, showing a gain of 1,675 points or 1.08 percent. This strong start to 2025 saw widespread buying activity in key sectors.
Major points were recorded in industries such as automobiles, cement, oil and gas exploration, oil marketing companies (OMCs), commercial banking, fertilizers, power generation, and pharmaceuticals.
Prominent contributors to the rally included heavyweight stocks such as HUBCO, ENGRO, MCB, SNGPL, MARI, OGDC, and MEBL, all of which traded positively and underpinned the strong market performance.
The upbeat sentiments came after a quiet end to 2024. On the last trading day of the year, the KSE-100 index shed 132.09 points or 0.11 percent to end almost flat at 115,126.90 points, capping an uneventful year for the market. .
Despite ongoing economic challenges, 2024 proved to be a record-breaking year for PSX. The KSE-100 index gained a whopping 84.34 percent, making it the second best performing stock market globally. Over the past 18 months, the PSX has outperformed all major global markets, with a phenomenal 178% gain, the highest in the history of Pakistan’s stock market in such a short period of time.
Mohammad Sohail, CEO, Topline Securities highlighted that even after such a spectacular rally, Pakistani stocks are trading at an average forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 6.3x. These figures suggest further growth in the coming months.
While the PSX enjoyed a spectacular rally, international markets had a more subdued start to 2025. India’s main indices showed little movement, with the Nifty 50 down 0.11 percent at 23,617.75 points and the BSE Sensex down 0.09 percent at 78:195. AM IST Other Asian markets were similarly weak, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index reflecting cautious trading.
