The KSE-100 index closed Friday’s session at 177,166.52, up 574.76 points or 0.33 per cent (Pakistan Stock Exchange).
The gain more than reverses Thursday’s decline of 254.59 points, and leaves the benchmark ahead on the week’s final two sessions taken together.
The wider board
Friday’s advance was broad rather than concentrated.
The all-share index rose 519.21 points to 107,641.65, a gain of 0.48 per cent — a wider rise in percentage terms than the KSE-100 itself, which indicates the move extended well beyond the largest listed companies. The KSE-30 added 203.40 points to 52,670.80, and the KMI-30 rose 1,891.30 points to 251,460.53, up 0.76 per cent and the strongest performer among the main indices.
The banking index was the notable exception, ending lower.
That is close to an inversion of Thursday, when banking heavyweights — United Bank, Hub Power, Bank Al-Habib, Habib Bank and Fatima Fertiliser — took roughly 458 points off the index between them, and oil and gas names provided the only support.
The ceiling holds
The index remains below the 178,000 to 180,000 band that analysts have identified as resistance, and which it has failed to clear repeatedly this month. Thursday’s intraday high of 178,291.37 reached the lower edge and did not hold it. Friday’s close leaves roughly 830 points to the bottom of that range.
Note on timing
Friday’s figure is a closing level. The Pakistan Stock Exchange does not trade on Saturday, so it stands as the most recent completed session and will remain the reference point until Monday.
The market’s recent character has been set by two forces pulling against each other: political uncertainty at home, sharpened this week by the dispute over Imran Khan’s hospital transfer, and a US-Iran war approaching its sixth month that has kept crude above $91 a barrel and Hormuz shipping constrained.
