PSX: Buying pushes KSE-100 up over 800 points

Business Recorder reported that the benchmark KSE-100 index added 814.16 points, or 0.46 per cent, to reach 178,769.66 by 10:40am on Wednesday. Purchases also reached car assemblers, cement makers, lenders, petroleum explorers, fuel marketers and electricity producers. Heavyweight names HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL and NBP were trading higher.

The rally followed a heavy sell-off on Tuesday, when the index lost 2,546.94 points, a fall of 1.41 per cent, and ended at 177,955.51 amid domestic political uncertainty and higher global crude prices. Regional equities also weakened, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan down 1.7 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 2.6 per cent lower after technology-led declines on Wall Street.

Statistics from the SBP, published on Tuesday, put the July 2026 current account deficit at $328 million, down from $529 million a year earlier, a narrowing of $201 million. The gap shrank 38 per cent year-on-year over the first month of fiscal 2026-27, buoyed by stronger exports and robust remittances from workers.