The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed strong bullish momentum on Friday, after the break of Eidul Azha holidays, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index surging 2,238 points (+1.30% DoD) to close at a fresh high of  173,963.

The market opened on a strong footing as investor sentiment improved amid encouraging progress in ongoing United States-Iran negotiations and declining international oil prices.

According to Deputy Head of Trading of Arif Habib Ltd Ali Najib, broad-based buying emerged following positive developments over the Eidul Azha holidays, with expectations of a potential diplomatic breakthrough continuing to drive optimism across the market.

Friday’s rally was largely driven by FFC, ENGROH, LUCK, EFERT, BAHL, HBL, MARI, TRG, SRVI & MTL which collectively contributed 1,773 points to the index gain. On the corporate front, FFC surged Rs21.75 (up 4%) today after signing a $1.1 billion agreement with China’s Hualu to establish a coal-based fertiliser project under CPEC 2.0.

Read: Only 14% mutual funds invested in PSX 

Overall market participation remained stable, with traded volume clocking in at 550.4 million shares and turnover settling at Rs40.8 billion. TRG led the volume chart with 34.1 million shares traded.

The KSE-100 Index posted a handsome weekly gain of 6,119 points (+3.65%) to settle at 173,963. The benchmark touched an intra-week high of 174,106 and a low of 170,162, respectively.

Moving forward, developments in US–Iran negotiations will remain a key market trigger, with improving diplomatic momentum and easing oil prices supporting investor sentiment. However, uncertainty around a final agreement may keep regional markets volatile in the near term.