Friday, Jan 23, 2026 | 03 Shaban 1447
Friday, Jan 23, 2026 | 03 Shaban 1447
After a day of selling, buying interest returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 600 points during intra-day trading on Thursday.
At 12:10pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 187,634.06, an increase of 600.80 points or 0.32%.
Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, OGDC, SNGPL, WAFI, INDU, LUCK, HBL, MEBL and UBL, traded in the green.
In a key development, foreign assistance to Pakistan in the first half of 2025-26 reached $4.51 billion, registering an increase of 20% compared to the corresponding period of last year.
According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at $1.07 billion for the period from July to December 2025 -26, whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to $1.97 billion during the same period.
On Wednesday, the PSX experienced a sharp reversal as widespread profit booking and heavy selling in index heavyweights pushed the market deep into negative territory, erasing the previous session’s gains. The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged 1,588.52 points, or 0.84%, to close at 187,033.27 points.
Internationally, the US dollar was higher, gold softer and stocks on the rebound on Thursday after US President Donald Trump dropped tariff threats and ruled out seizing Greenland from an ally by force.
Wall Street indexes jagged higher on those words, and the S&P 500 closed overnight, notching a 1.16% rise, its largest in two months, and European futures rose 1.3% in the Asian morning.
A bouncing dollar has pushed the euro back under $1.17, to $1.1676, and gold has dropped about $100 an ounce to $4,790 from a record high of $4,887. Equity benchmarks in Australia and Japan rose around 1%, and in Seoul, the Kospi crossed 5,000 points for the first time.
Trump said after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Western Arctic allies could forge a new deal over Greenland that would satisfy his desire for a missile defence system and access to critical minerals.
But there were no details.
The VIX index, nicknamed Wall Street’s fear gauge, sharply fell back towards baseline levels and U.S. Treasuries, which had been sold through the week, caught a bid.
Asian shares extend selloff, global bond rout stokes fresh anxiety.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were down one basis point in Tokyo trade to 4.24%, after falling four bps in New York. Japanese government bonds started the day steady after a wild week where election spending promises triggered a historic rout in long-dated paper.
This is an intra-day update
