The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) began the new year with impressive momentum as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by more than 1,600 points in early trading on Wednesday.

At 10:30 AM, the index stood at 116804 points, reflecting a jump of 1675 points, or 1.08%. This surge marked a positive start to 2025, with broad-based buying across key sectors.

Notable gains were seen in automobiles, cement, commercial banks, fertilizers, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation, and pharmaceuticals.

Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, SNGPL, MARI, OGDC, ENGRO, MCB, and MEBL, were among the frontrunners in today’s rally, all trading in the green and contributing to the robust performance of the market.

The bullish sentiment followed a relatively subdued end to 2024. On the last trading day of the year, the KSE-100 Index closed nearly flat at 115,126.90 points, down by just 132.09 points or 0.11%, marking a muted finish to what had been a spectacular year for the market.

Despite the challenges faced by the Pakistani economy, 2024 proved to be a record-breaking year for the PSX. Analysts reported that the KSE-100 Index surged by a staggering 84.34%, making it the second-best performing market globally. Over the past 18 months, the PSX has outperformed all major global markets, recording an astonishing 178% gain—the strongest performance in Pakistan’s stock market history over such a short period.

Muhammad Sohail, the leading analyst and CEO of Topline Securities, pointed out that despite the remarkable rally, Pakistani stocks still trade at an average forward Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of just 6.3x. This, he emphasized, signals substantial potential for further growth in the near future.

While the PSX celebrates its impressive rally, international markets had a more subdued start to 2025. India’s benchmark indexes were muted, with the Nifty 50 down by 0.11% at 23,617.75 points and the BSE Sensex falling by 0.09% at 78,057.81 points by 9:35 AM IST. Other Asian markets were also lackluster, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index declining by 0.1%, as concerns about elevated U.S. Treasury yields continued to weigh on emerging markets.