Karachi: The KSE-100 index sustained its bullish trajectory, marking the best nine-month performance since 2009. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 168,990 points, reflecting a 4% increase week-on-week. The banking sector played a pivotal role, contributing 4,313 points to the index during the week. However, average trading volumes saw a decline of 11% week-on-week, settling at 1,484 million shares.

Investor sentiment remained buoyant following Pakistan's successful repayment of a US$500 million Eurobond, with another US$1.3 billion repayment scheduled for April 2026. On the macroeconomic front, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September 2025 was recorded at 5.6% year-on-year, while inflation for the first quarter of the fiscal year averaged 4.2%.

Despite the positive market trends, fiscal challenges persisted as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) fell short of its first-quarter tax collection target by approximately Rs200 billion, collecting Rs2.88 trillion against the target of Rs3.08 trillion. The trade deficit also widened, with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reporting a deficit of US$3.3 billion in September 2025, a 46% increase year-on-year, raising the cumulative first-quarter deficit to US$9.3 billion.

In the government's latest T-bill auction, Rs730 billion was mobilized, with yields rising between 19 and 41 basis points across different tenors. On the sectoral front, cement dispatches reached 4.5 million tons for September 2025, a 7% year-on-year increase, contributing to a total dispatch growth of 16% year-on-year for the first quarter.

Lastly, the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) foreign exchange reserves recorded a marginal increase of US$21 million week-on-week, bringing the total to US$14.4 billion.