April 4, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan’s equity market remained under pressure for the tenth consecutive week, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 150,398.71 on 3 April 2026, down from 151,707.52 recorded on 27 March 2026. The index shed 1,308.81 points, translating into a 0.86% week-on-week (WoW) decline.

Investor sentiment weakened due to rising US-Iran tensions, which spurred fears of prolonged conflict and triggered oil price spikes, creating uncertainty and broad-based selling in the market.

Market Capitalization

Total market capitalization declined in line with the benchmark index. On 3 April 2026, market cap stood at Rs4.376 trillion, compared to Rs4.403tr on 27 March 2026, marking a contraction of Rs27.98 billion or 0.64% WoW.

In USD terms, market capitalization fell to $15.68bn from $15.77bn a week earlier.

Dollar-adjusted returns also deteriorated slightly, moving from -0.6480% to -0.8376% WoW, showing a faster pace of decline on a dollar basis.

On the macroeconomic front, narrowed to $2.73bn in March 2026, down 9.36% MoM due to a sharper fall in imports.

However, the deficit widened on a yearly and cumulative basis, highlighting persistent external sector pressures.

SBP raised , with the bulk coming from Treasury Bills amid strong demand, particularly in the 3-month tenor.

grew by 3.89% in Q2 FY26, driven by a strong rebound in the industrial sector despite continued weakness in agriculture.

rose to 7.3% YoY in March 2026, with a sharp monthly acceleration indicating broadening price pressures across the economy.

from the interbank market in December 2025, nearly doubling YoY and signaling strong inflows during the month.

However, cumulative FX purchases in 1HFY26 remained lower than last year, indicating relatively softer inflow momentum overall.

Index Movers

Sector-wise, commercial banks emerged as the largest positive contributor, adding 420.41 points to the benchmark, supported by strong performances from MEBL, BAHL, HBL, and BAFL.

Oil and gas exploration companies added 134.31 points, while refinery stocks contributed 140.55 points. Insurance and glass & ceramics sectors provided marginal support, adding 21.61 and 24.11 points respectively.

On the downside, investment banks, investment companies, and securities companies were the biggest drag, wiping out 513.74 points, followed closely by fertilizer (-512.77 points) and technology & communication (-175.73 points).

Oil and gas marketing companies (-140.36 points), textile composite (-102.52 points), and cement (-98.45 points) also contributed to the decline.

Power generation & distribution (-71.81 points), leather & tanneries (-62.66 points), cable & electrical goods (-59.31 points), pharmaceuticals (-52.93 points), and food & personal care products (-41.30 points) added further pressure.

Other sectors such as automobile assemblers, engineering, tobacco, paper & packaging, and miscellaneous also weighed on the index, reflecting broad-based selling across the market.

At the individual stock level, MEBL led the gainers, adding 307.78 points, followed by BAHL (+268.76 points) and HBL (+247.99 points).

Other notable contributors included BAFL (+157.33 points), LUCK (+133.75 points), OGDC (+110.49 points), ATRL (+104.69 points), and TRG (+90.63 points).

Additional support came from POL, HMB, MARI, CNERGY, ATLH, FCCL, NBP, AICL, POWER, MCB, KEL, GHGL, SEARL, PSEL, AKBL, TGL, UPFL, GLAXO, DCR, SSGC, MTL, AHCL, PABC, HCAR, MUREB, ABL, and BNWM.

Despite these gains, several large-cap stocks remained under heavy selling pressure, keeping the benchmark subdued.

UBL emerged as the largest drag, erasing 533.88 points, followed by ENGROH (-478.39 points), FFC (-363.12 points), SYS (-131.02 points), PSO (-116.34 points), MLCF (-94.69 points).

FATIMA (-87.27 points), PPL (-83.22 points), PTC (-81.74 points), HALEON (-20.67 points), KOHC (-18.94 points), NML (-19.54 points), MEHT (-14.07 points), ILP (-28.49 points), and other index-heavy stocks, highlighting persistent selling across major sectors.

FIPI / LIPI

Foreign investment flows continued to weigh on the market. Under Foreign Institutional Portfolio Investment (FIPI), foreign investors remained net sellers with an outflow of Rs697.11m ($2.50m).

The majority of the selling came from foreign corporates, which offloaded Rs806.46m, while overseas Pakistanis provided modest support with net buying of Rs109.17m.

Foreign individuals remained largely neutral, contributing a minor net inflow of Rs182,498.

Local investors absorbed the foreign outflow, resulting in a matching net inflow of Rs697.11m ($2.50m) under Local Portfolio Investment (LIPI).

Among local participants, individuals emerged as the largest buyers with net purchases of Rs4.64bn, followed by broker proprietary trading desks (+Rs786.95m) and insurance companies (+Rs492.74m).

Conversely, mutual funds (-Rs4.38bn), banks & DFIs (-Rs764.24m), NBFCs (-Rs45.91m), and companies (-Rs165.87m) remained net sellers.

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