Daily Times

Firing on all its rockets, the stock market on Thursday blasted off to hit unscaled highs as investors cheered the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) status quo in the federal budget 2024-25, traders said. Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark, the KSE-100 Shares Index reached an all-time high of 76,208.16 points, showing an unprecedented giant leap of 3,410.73 points or 4.69% – the highest-ever single-day gain. “The market was expecting an increase in capital gains tax and so investors had reduced exposure significantly,” Adnan Sheikh, assistant vice president of Pak Kuwait Investment Co told Reuters. After the budget and Monday’s cut of 150 bps in the central bank’s policy rate, the market could see a record day as “equities are the best option for the medium term”, Sheikh added. Apart from the capital gains tax, analysts say the budget and other revenue measures are in line with expectations.