The Pakistan Stock Exchange maintained a bullish trend at the start of trading on Tuesday, pushing the benchmark KSE 100 Index past the key level of 188,000 points in early hours.
According to reports, by 11:00 am the KSE 100 Index had risen by 783.31 points, or 0.42 percent, to reach 188,545 points. Strong buying was observed in automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer companies, oil and gas exploration firms, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and the refinery sector. Shares of ARL, Mari, OGDC, POL, PSO, SNGPL, MCB, NBP, and UBL were also trading in positive territory.
Sources said the rally in the stock market is being driven by growing expectations of an interest rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for January 26.
Meanwhile, in a significant development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down Pakistan’s economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year, reducing the GDP growth estimate to 3.2 percent from 3.6 percent, as projected in the October 2025 World Economic Outlook.
It is worth noting that in its latest report, the IMF has set Pakistan’s GDP growth at 3 percent for 2025, with growth expected to rise to 3.2 percent in the ongoing fiscal year 2026 and further to 4.1 percent in 2027.
It may be recalled that on Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its bullish momentum and closed at a new all time high. The benchmark KSE 100 Index closed at 187,761.69 points after gaining a strong 2,662.86 points, or 1.44 percent.
On the global front, Asian stock markets weakened on Tuesday, while the US dollar remained under pressure and US Treasury yields climbed to their highest level in more than four months. Renewed concerns over trade wars hurt risk sentiment and triggered selling pressure in US assets.
According to sources, in early trading, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures fell by 1 percent, while the US dollar stayed under pressure and the yield on the 10 year US Treasury bond rose to 4.265 percent, its highest level since early September.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 0.44 percent, moving further away from the record highs set last week.
