The Pakistan stock market exhibited a day of mixed signals on Friday, as benchmark indices posted gains and flirted with historic highs, yet overall trading volume witnessed a substantial decline, indicating a degree of investor caution.

The KSE-100 index, a key barometer of market performance, concluded the session at 159,592.90, reflecting an advance of 496.11 points or 0.31 percent from the previous close. During intra-day trading, the index surged to a high of 160,435.95 before retracting slightly.

Similarly, the KSE-30 index climbed by 148.84 points, or 0.31 percent, to finish the day at 48,297.59. The blue-chip index recorded a daily high of 48,573.46 and a low of 48,046.18.

Despite the upward trajectory of the indices, market participation in the ready market contracted significantly. Turnover plunged to 768.83 million shares from the 957.30 million shares traded in the prior session.

In contrast to the reduced volume, the traded value experienced a modest uptick, rising to PKR 30.73 billion from PKR 30.44 billion. This suggests that trading activity was concentrated in higher-priced stocks.

The overall market capitalization increased in line with the index gains, growing to PKR 18,286.83 billion from PKR 18,220.47 billion on the previous day.

Activity in the futures market also saw a downturn, with turnover decreasing to 163.33 million contracts from 215.51 million, and traded value falling to PKR 8.07 billion from PKR 8.18 billion.