Stocks surge, KSE-100 crosses 188,000 level in early trade

Stocks maintained their upward momentum at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossing the 188,000 level during the opening minutes of trading on Tuesday. At 9:40am, the benchmark index was hovering at 188,545.00, an increase of 783.31 points or 0.42%. Buying interest was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, MARI, OGDC, POL, PSO, SNGPL, MCB, NBP and UBL, traded in the green. The rally comes amid growing expectations of a policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for January 26, following signals of further monetary easing from recent Treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bond auctions. In a key development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered Pakistan’s economic growth outlook, cutting its GDP projection for the current fiscal year to 3.2%, down from 3.6% estimated in its October 2025 World Economic Outlook.