According to the monthly review of price indices released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the National Consumer Price Index for February 2026 increased by 0.27 per cent over January 2026 and was up by 6.98pc from the corresponding month of 2025.

Analysts at Topline Securities noted that this increase is in line with their estimate of 6.75-7.25pc.

Arif Habib Limited observed that this is the highest increase since October 2024.

The report showed that the Urban Consumer Price Index for February 2026 increased by 0.27pc over January 2026 and by 6.79pc from the corresponding month last year

The main contributors that increased from the previous month in terms of food were tomatoes (23.05pc), fresh fruits (11.48pc), pulse mash (8.19pc), beverages (1.65pc), meat (1.45pc), pulse moong (1.25pc), mustard oil (1.20pc), dry fruits (0.78pc), wheat products (0.68pc), readymade food (0.44pc) and pulse gram (0.34pc).

The main contributors that increased from the previous month in terms of non-food were electricity charges (10.03pc), cleaning and laundering (2.09pc), tailoring (2.04pc), solid fuel (1.71pc), and doctor (MBBS) clinic fee (1.05pc).

The main contributors that fell from the previous month were eggs (22.39pc), chicken (19.99pc), potatoes (15.89pc), pulse masoor (4.03pc), onions (3.90pc), fresh vegetables (3.88pc), besan (1.67pc), vegetable ghee (0.99pc), cooking oil (0.94pc), gur (0.39pc), sugar (0.35pc), gram whole (0.17pc), transport services (10.38pc) and stationery (0.03pc).

The Rural Consumer Price Index for February 2026 increased by 0.28pc over January 2026, and increased by 7.27pc over the corresponding month of the last year.

The Wholesale Price Index for February 2026 increased by 0.66pc over January 2026 and increased by 1.05pc over the corresponding month of the last year.

The sensitive price indicator (SPI), which tracks changes in prices of essential goods and services, showed modest shifts across different income quintiles in February 2026.

Compared to January 2026, all quintiles recorded slight declines, reflecting a marginal easing in short-term price pressures. Quintile 1 fell 0.15pc, quintile 2 edged down 0.02pc, quintile 3 declined 0.20pc, quintile 4 dropped 0.30pc, and quintile 5 decreased 0.27pc, while the combined index fell 0.12pc.

On a year-on-year basis, the SPI remained higher across all quintiles. The largest increase was seen in quintile 2 at 5.88pc, followed by quintile 3 at 5.02pc, quintile 1 at 4.80pc, quintile 4 at 4.35pc, and quintile 5 at 3.50pc. Overall, the combined index rose 4.60pc compared to February 2025, highlighting sustained inflationary pressures despite slight monthly easing.

Weekly changes in February 2026 showed short-term volatility. Quintile 1 recorded a 0.13pc rise in the first week, fell 0.62pc in the second week, climbed 1.11pc in the third week, and dropped 0.71pc in the final week. The combined index mirrored these fluctuations with weekly movements of 0.09pc, -0.59pc, 1.16pc, and -0.54pc, indicating that while prices experienced minor weekly swings, the overall trend remained upward on an annual basis.

The Pakistani rupee continued to trade within a narrow band against major foreign currencies on Monday, reflecting range-bound activity in both the interbank and open markets.

According to the rates released by forex.pk, by 12pm on Monday, the US dollar in the open market was quoted at Rs280.35 for buying and Rs282.15 for selling, while in the interbank market it stood lower at Rs279.35 for buying and Rs279.85 for selling.

Among other major currencies, the euro was trading in the open market at Rs330.75 for buying and Rs335.28 for selling, while the British pound was quoted at Rs377.90 and Rs382.16, respectively.

The UAE dirham stood at Rs76.35 for buying and Rs77.35 for selling, and the Saudi riyal was available at Rs74.88 and Rs75.65.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar was being traded at Rs203.68 on the buying side and Rs207.00 on the selling side.

Market participants continue to monitor geopolitical tensions, global interest rate trends, commodity prices, and domestic economic indicators for cues that could influence short-term direction.

Overall, the rupee’s performance indicates cautious stability, with both interbank and open market segments showing controlled movement.

Following an early crash and a temporary market halt, the KSE-100 benchmark index resumed trading, recovered slightly by midday, but plunged sharply by 16,089.17 points before closing.

As trading began Monday following a weekend marred by geopolitical instability, the market crashed by over 15,000 points, causing the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to halt trading.

According to Chief Executive Officer Topline Securities Mohammed Sohail, the “market overreacted initially amid selling by a few funds and leveraged players”.

As trading resumed around 10:30am, the index was down 12,334.88 points from its previous close of 168,062.16 points, marking a fall of 7.34 per cent.

Sohail added that after the halt, some buying was seen as investors realised the market had already fallen by 20 per cent from its recent peak and had attractive values.

By 11:07am, the market recovered more, with the index down 9,164.62 points, marking a fall of 5.45pc.

However, by closing the index hit 151,972.99 points, slightly above the intraday low of 151,747.96 points. This marks a 9.57pc decline from its previous close.

The top active stocks were led by K-Electric Limited, which fell 12.53pc to Rs6.70 on a volume of 163,349,544 shares, followed by Worldcall Telecom Limited, down 13.18pc to Rs1.12 with a volume of 82,602,451 shares, and First National Equities Limited, which declined 20.13pc to Rs1.23.

The sharp plunge comes as regional geopolitical tensions spiked over the weekend as the United States and Israel on Saturday launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with US President Donald Trump announcing the start of “major combat operations”.

The tensions have caused Brent to jump 6.4pc to $77.57 a barrel by early Monday, though it had briefly topped $82.00 at one stage, while US crude climbed 6.2pc to $71.17 per barrel.

Safe-haven gold rose 1.6pc to $5,360 an ounce on Monday.