Thursday, January 22 2026

Buying returns to bourse, KSE-100 up over 500 points
After a day of selling, buying interest returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 500 points during the opening minutes of Thursday. At 10:10am, the benchmark index was hovering at 187,571.71, an increase of 538.45 points or 0.29%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, OGDC, SNGPL, WAFI, INDU, LUCK, HBL, MEBL and UBL, traded in the green. In a key development, foreign assistance to Pakistan in the first half of 2025-26 reached $4.51 billion, registering an increase of 20% compared to the corresponding period of last year. According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at $1.07 billion for the period from July to December 2025 -26, whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to $1.97 billion during the same period.
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Goldman Sachs raises 2026-end gold price forecast by $500 to $5,400/oz
Goldman Sachs has raised its end-2026 gold price forecast to $5,400 per ounce from $4,900/oz earlier, noting private-sector and emerging market central banks’ diversification into gold. Spot gold climbed to a peak of $4,887.82 per ounce on Wednesday. The safe-haven metal has climbed more than 11% so far in 2026, extending a blistering rally that saw it jump 64% last year. “We assume private sector diversification buyers, whose purchases hedge global policy risks and have driven the upside surprise to our price forecast, don’t liquidate their gold holdings in 2026, effectively lifting the starting point of our price forecast,” the brokerage said in a note dated Wednesday. Goldman Sachs expects Western ETF holdings to rise as the US Federal Reserve is likely to cut the funds rate by 50 basis points in 2026.
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Gold falls as easing geopolitical tensions dampen safe-haven demand
Gold and other precious metals fell on Thursday as geopolitical tensions and safe-haven demand eased after US President Donald Trump backed down from new tariff threats and proposals to annex Greenland by force, while a firmer dollar also pressured prices. Spot gold was down nearly 1% to $4,793.63 per ounce, as of 0332 GMT, after scaling a record peak of $4,887.82 in the previous session. US gold futures for February delivery lost 1% to $4,790.10 per ounce. “Reversal of comments by the US President was one factor that eased geopolitical tensions, and so we see a retracement in prices,” said ANZ commodity strategist Soni Kumari.
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Oil edges up after Trump backs off tariff threat on Greenland
BEIJING/SINGAPORE: Oil prices edged up on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump ratcheted down tension with Europe over his demand for Greenland, while disruptions in supply from two large fields in Kazakhstan and a better demand outlook for 2026 lent support. Brent crude was up 9 cents, or 0.14%, at $65.33 a barrel by 0320 GMT. West Texas Intermediate for March rose 13 cents, or 0.21%, to $60.75 a barrel. The contracts climbed more than 0.4% on Wednesday, following the previous day’s rise of 1.5%, after OPEC+ producer Kazakhstan halted output at its Tengiz and Korolev oilfields because of issues regarding power distribution.
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DAVOS 26: Pakistan to enter Chinese market with green Panda bond by month-end, says Aurangzeb
Pakistan is set to enter the Chinese capital market for the first time with the issuance of a Panda bond, structured as a green bond, by the end of this month, reflecting the country’s commitment to sustainable and climate-resilient financing, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. “For the first time, we are going to do an inaugural Panda bond by the end of this month, and it’s all in the context of sustainable finance. As a country, we are one of the most vulnerable climate financing countries. “So this is going to be a green bond which is going to help us,” he said, while speaking at a high-level panel discussion on “How Can We Unlock New Sources of Growth? – Weight of Global Debt” held on the sidelines of the WEF.
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