Equities suffer marginal losses on profit-taking

Dawn reported that the benchmark KSE-100 closed Thursday at 180,104.61, down 206.60 points or 0.11 per cent, as investors sold into the final hours before the Independence Day long weekend. The index had mostly traded in positive territory earlier in the session, supported by lower crude oil prices, according to Topline Securities. Fauji Fertiliser, Service Industries, Habib Bank and Pakistan Petroleum added 236 points, while Engro Holdings, Systems Ltd, Meezan Bank, Habib Metropolitan Bank and Pakistan Oilfield subtracted 286 points.

Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, called the session negative as early gains faded before the holiday. Pakistan Refinery posted a FY26 net profit of Rs16.1 billion, or Rs25.05 in earnings per share, but declared no cash dividend. Trading activity picked up, with volume up 19.76 per cent to 891 million shares and turnover rising 13.97 per cent to Rs36.6 billion. Cnergyico PK led the volume table with 247 million shares.

Budget figures for FY26 showed the deficit narrowing to Rs3,313 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP, its lowest level since FY18. FBR revenue grew 11 per cent year on year to Rs13,010 billion, while the primary surplus reached Rs3,364 billion for a third consecutive year. Interest payments fell 22 per cent year on year to Rs6,948 billion.