Positive sentiment at bourse, KSE-100 crosses 188,000 mark

Buying interest was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 crossing the 188,000 level during the opening minutes of trading on Friday. At 9:30am, the benchmark index was hovering at 188,048.54, an increase of 360.38 points or 0.19%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, OGDC, POL, PPL, SNGPL, FFC, MCB, MEBL, NBP and UBL, traded in the green. On Thursday, the Pak-Qatar General Takaful Limited (PKGTL) – the country’s first initial public offering (IPO) of the year 2026 – created history by recording “the highest oversubscription” of 21 times in the rupee term at the PSX.