Bulls stage comeback at PSX after NA clears budget

On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened higher as investor confidence improved following the National Assembly’s approval of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2025–26.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index reached an intraday high of 123,628.23 points, gaining 1,581.77 points or 1.3%. It also touched a low of 122,222.69, which was still 176.23 points (0.14%) higher than the previous close of 122,046.46.

The federal budget, worth Rs17.57 trillion, was passed after amendments to the Finance Bill 2026 were adopted. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb introduced changes including a new clause in the Sales Tax Act. This clause allows the finance committee to authorize arrests in tax fraud cases involving amounts over Rs50 million.

The revised budget also proposed changes to the income tax structure for salaried individuals. Income up to Rs600,000 remains tax-free. Earnings between Rs600,000 and Rs1.2 million will be taxed at 1%. Higher income brackets will pay fixed taxes, going up to Rs346,000 for incomes between Rs3.2 million and Rs4.1 million.

Investor confidence was further supported by strong inflows from overseas Pakistanis through the Roshan Digital Account (RDA). Since September 2020, total RDA inflows have reached $10.38 billion, with May 2025 alone seeing a 13% monthly increase to $201 million. The number of RDA accounts has grown to 823,224.

Saad Hanif, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, stated that $6.65 billion of these inflows have been invested locally, mainly in Naya Pakistan Certificates and Roshan Equity funds, while $1.95 billion remains repatriable.

On Thursday, the KSE-100 Index had dropped by 715.18 points (0.58%) to close at 122,046.46, with an intraday high of 123,417.87 and a low of 122,142.43.