Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday staged a strong comeback, breaking the long bearish momentum as snowballing forex reserves have lifted investor sentiment.

During intraday trading, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index gained a whopping 3,146.23 points to climb to 184,602.56 points, marking a positive change of 1.70%.

Out of 562 active companies, share prices of 375 advanced and of 67 declined while rates of 120 companies remained unchanged.

Economic analysts said the uptick offered some breathing space for the economy, even as the country continued to keep a close watch on external inflows and outflows.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves inched up by $16 million over the past week, according to figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The central bank said its official reserves rose from $16.0557 billion to $16.0718 billion, showing a modest gain during the week.

Overall, the country’s total reserves climbed to $21.2484 billion.

The State Bank also noted that commercial banks’ holdings went up by $5.6 million, reaching $5.1927 billion.

The central bank projects the FY26 current account deficit at 0–1% of GDP and sees reserves at $17.8 billion by June 2026 with planned official inflows.

A day earlier, the stock exchange dropped by over 1,100 points due to massive selling pressure.

The PSX had extended losses after recording an increase for a brief period as investors seemed cautious amid rising geopolitical tensions involving Iran.

During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index touched 183,717.53 due to strong buying in the early sessions before it turned bearish by losing 69.29 points to close at 182,500.52 points.

International officials have warned that US military intervention in Iran now appears likely and could take place within the next 24 hours amid sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.

American, European and Israeli sources said preparations for possible action were under way as Washington began evacuating personnel from its major air base in Qatar.