Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) commenced on a bullish note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 133,000 level during the opening minutes of trading on Monday.
At 10:15am, the benchmark index was hovering at 133,257.44, an increase of 1,308.38 points or 0.99%.
Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including ARL, HUBCO, PSO, SSGC, EFERT, MCB, MEBL and UBL traded in the green.
The PSX kicked off fiscal year 2026 at a record high, with the KSE-100 index surpassing the 130,000 points mark for the first time. The index closed the previous week at 131,949 points, marking a 6.1% week-on-week increase.
The benchmark KSE-100 index has showcased an “outstanding performance in FY25, leading all major asset classes with an impressive return of 60.15%”, said Arif Habib Limited (AHL).
Internationally, stock markets slipped in Asia on Monday amid confusion as US officials flagged a delay on tariffs but failed to provide much detail on the change, while oil prices slid as OPEC+ opened the supply spigots more than expected.
The United States is close to finalising several trade agreements in the coming days and will notify other countries of higher tariff rates by July 9, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, with the higher rates to take effect on August 1.
Trump in April announced a 10% base tariff rate on most countries and higher “reciprocal” rates ranging up to 50%, with an original deadline of this Wednesday.
However, Trump also said levies could range in value from “maybe 60% or 70%”, and threatened an extra 10% on countries aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
With very few actual trade deals done, analysts had always suspected the date would be pushed out, though it was still not clear if the new deadline applied to all trading partners or just some.
Investors have grown somewhat used to the uncertainty surrounding US trade policy and the initial market reaction was cautious. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both eased 0.3%.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures eased 0.1%, while FTSE futures fell 0.2% and DAX futures held steady.
Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.5%, while South Korean stocks went flat. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.6%, as Chinese blue chips dropped 0.5%.
This is an intra-day update