Market reacts positively to budget FY25, KSE-100 gains over 1,500 points

Markets opened on an overwhelmingly positive note in its post-budget session, as the benchmark KSE-100 index gained over 1,500 points during the opening hours of the trading session on Thursday.

At 10:am, the benchmark index was hovering at 74,305.84 level, an increase of 1,508.41 points or 2.07%.

Across the board buying was witnessed among sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, engineering, oil and gas marketing companies, OMCs and refinery.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced Pakistan’s federal budget 2024-25, targeting a modest 3.6% growth for the coming fiscal year, as Islamabad looked to appease the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and balance its burgeoning books with higher taxation.

Analysts said the budget FY25 is overall positive for the market as government has not changed the treatment of Capital Gain Tax (CGT) to normal tax.

“Overall the budgetary measures are positive in a sense, that the government has shown intent to bring tax reforms, especially taking stringent measures against nonfilers,” Sana Tawfik, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited (AHL), told Business Recorder.

Moreover, the government has also proposed no change in tax rates for dividends income for both filers and non filers.

“This is positive for market as there were some news reports suggesting tax on dividend income will go up,” said Topline Securities in a note.

Cement and engineering stocks reacted positively to the increase in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by the government.

“Although FED (Federal Excise Duty) was increased on cement, which will be passed on to the customers, the increase in PSDP pushed the sector into positive,” said Tawfik.

Presenting the budgetary proposals in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said Rs1.4 trillion have been earmarked for the PSDP.

However, textile stocks remained in the red during the trading session.

“The government has proposed to bring exporters into the normal tax regime, which is a negative for the textile sector,” she added.