Wednesday, May 13 2026

Buying interest at bourse, KSE-100 up 600 points in early trade
Buying was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 600 points during the opening minutes of trading on Wednesday. At 9:35am, the benchmark index was hovering at 169,561.27, a gain of 645.05 points or 0.38%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the green.
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Cooperation with China: Pak envoy calls for enhancing economic diplomacy, innovation
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Khalil Hashmi on Tuesday emphasised the need for Pakistan to strengthen economic diplomacy, innovation, industrialisation and regional connectivity to fully benefit from growing Pakistan-China cooperation. He was addressing a luncheon hosted for the Karachi business community by the Foreign Affairs Liaison Office, where business leaders, industrialists, exporters, entrepreneurs and stakeholders from the agriculture, fisheries, logistics, technology and manufacturing sectors participated.
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SBP projects Pakistan’s FY26 GDP growth at 3.75-4.75%, warns of Middle East war risks
Despite headwinds from global trade-related uncertainty and domestic floods, Pakistan’s macroeconomic stability strengthened further in H1-FY26, as revealed in the State of Pakistan’s Economy, Half Year Report FY26, released on Tuesday. The central bank report noted that the Middle East War poses significant risks to the macroeconomic outlook amid heightened uncertainty, where supply chain disruptions are likely to impact inflation trajectory, external trade and remittance flows, and the economic activity in Pakistan. “However, its impact on overall economic activity is not expected to be significant in FY26,” SBP said.
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Oil settles higher
Oil prices settled higher for the third consecutive session on Tuesday as stark differences between the US and Iran over a proposal to end the war in the Middle East raised concerns that supply disruptions upending the global oil market are likely to be prolonged. Brent crude futures gained USD3.56, or 3.42 percent, to settle at USD107.77 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate futures closed up USD4.11, or 4.19 percent, at USD102.18. Both benchmarks had climbed nearly 3 percent on Monday. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that ceasefire talks with Iran were on “life support,” pointing to disagreements over Tehran’s demands of a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, the removal of a US naval blockade, the resumption of Iranian oil sales and compensation for war damage.
Related news categories: business misc oilgas-exploration oilgas-marketing

Pakistan receives $1.3 billion from IMF: SBP
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said Wednesday it received about $1.3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). “The amount would be reflected in SBP’s foreign exchange reserves for the week ending on May 15, 2026,” the SBP said. Last week, the IMF Executive Board approved Pakistan’s third review under the EFF and the second review under the RSF, allowing access to approximately $1.32 billion. The approval was given at a meeting of the IMF Executive Board held in Washington, DC on May 9. This decision allowed for an immediate disbursement of around $1.1 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF arrangement and around $220 million (SDR 154 million) under the RSF arrangement, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about $4.8 billion (SDR 3.348 billion).
Related news categories: business economic-indicators misc