KSE-100 vs KMI-30 vs KSE-30: which benchmark
What each PSX index measures, how the KMI-30 screens for Shariah compliance, and which to compare your own portfolio against, with dated one-year returns.
The KSE-100 is the broad PSX benchmark: 100 companies chosen by sector leadership and size. The KSE-30 is a narrower, more liquid cut of the 30 largest by free float. The KMI-30 is the 30 largest companies that pass a Shariah screen. The All-Share (ALLSHR) is every listed company. As of 6 Sep 2026 their one-year returns were 13.29%, 10.77%, 11.40% and 12.47% respectively. (Those figures are fixed to that date; the KSE-100 page carry the current ones.) The right benchmark is the one whose universe matches what you actually own: a halal-only portfolio should be measured against the KMI-30, not the KSE-100, and a portfolio of small caps should be measured against neither.
The four benchmarks side by side
Equivest’s feed carries 18 PSX indices. Four of them are general-purpose benchmarks; the rest are sector or sponsor indices. Levels and returns below are from Equivest’s index feed as of 6 Sep 2026.
| Index | Level | 1-year return | Universe | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KSE-100 | 175,328.82 | 13.29% | 100 companies: the largest in each sector, then the largest remaining by market cap | Free-float market cap |
| KSE-30 | 52,294.82 | 10.77% | 30 largest, most liquid companies | Free-float market cap |
| KMI-30 | 250,239.14 | 11.40% | 30 largest Shariah-compliant companies | Free-float market cap |
| All-Share | 106,442.83 | 12.47% | Every listed company except open-end funds | Full market cap |
The selection rule for the KSE-100 is why it is broader than “the 100 biggest”: the top company from each PSX sector gets in first, which guarantees representation for small sectors, and the remaining slots go to the largest companies regardless of sector. The result is still dominated by a handful of banks, energy and fertiliser names, as the KSE-100 explainer covers.
One detail catches people out: the KSE-100 is a total-return index, meaning dividends are treated as reinvested. PSX also publishes a KSE-100 Price Return version (KSE100PR) that excludes them. As of 6 Sep 2026 the price version sat at 53,009.51 with a one-year return of 6.90% against 13.29% for the headline index. That 6.4 percentage-point gap is the dividend contribution over the year, and it is the reason your broker-portal return (which usually ignores dividends) will look worse than the headline index even when your stocks tracked it.
How the KMI-30 screens for Shariah compliance
The KMI-30 was launched in 2008 by PSX (then KSE) with Al Meezan Investment Management, and its methodology is published on psx.com.pk. A company must pass every filter to be eligible; the largest 30 that pass, by free-float market cap, make up the index, reviewed twice a year.
The screen has a business test and five financial ratios. The business must be permissible (no conventional banking, insurance, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or similar). Interest-bearing debt must be below 37% of total assets. Non-compliant investments must be below 33% of total assets. Income from non-compliant sources must be below 5% of total revenue. Illiquid assets must be at least 25% of total assets. And the market price per share must be at least the net liquid assets per share.
Those thresholds explain what you see in the membership. Hub Power (HUBC) sits in both the KSE-100 and the KMI-30. Pakistan Oilfields (POL) is in the KSE-100 and the KSE-30 but not the KMI-30; on Equivest’s fundamentals record it is marked non-compliant, most likely on the financial ratios rather than the business test, since oil exploration is permissible. Every conventional bank is excluded outright, which is the single biggest difference between the two universes: banks are the largest sector in the KSE-100 and absent from the KMI-30.
There is also a KMI All-Share index (KMIALLSHR, one-year return 8.46% as of 6 Sep 2026) covering every company that passes the screen, and a separate Meezan Islamic index (MII30, 9.48%). If you hold Shariah-compliant names outside the top 30, the KMI All-Share is the fairer comparison.
Compliance is not permanent. A company can fail the debt ratio after a large borrowing, or pass it after paying down loans, and move in or out at the next review. If halal investing matters to you, check membership at each recomposition rather than assuming last year’s list. The zakat on shares guide covers the other half of the Islamic-finance question.
Picking the right benchmark for your portfolio
A benchmark is only useful if it holds roughly what you hold. Three mismatches are common.
Comparing a halal-only portfolio against the KSE-100 penalises you whenever banks rally and flatters you whenever they fall. Over the past year the KSE-100 beat the KMI-30 by 1.9 percentage points (13.29% against 11.40%), and the banking sector index (BKTI) returned 16.35%. A Shariah-compliant investor who “underperformed the market” may simply have been measured against an index that owns something they cannot.
Comparing a dividend-heavy portfolio against the KSE-100 hides how much of the return came from payouts. PSX’s dividend index, the PSXDIV20, returned 26.50% over the year to 6 Sep 2026, twice the KSE-100. If your portfolio is built around the highest-yield names, that is your peer group.
Comparing a sector bet against a broad index tells you about the sector, not your stock picking. The oil and gas index (OGTI) returned 14.13%; if your energy holdings returned 12%, you lagged your sector even though you beat the KSE-30.
| If you mostly hold | Compare against |
|---|---|
| KSE-100 heavyweights | KSE-100 (total return) |
| Shariah-compliant large caps only | KMI-30 |
| Shariah-compliant names of all sizes | KMI All-Share |
| Dividend payers | PSXDIV20 |
| Banks | BKTI |
| Oil and gas | OGTI |
| Small and mid caps | All-Share, with caution |
Three measurement traps
First, price return versus total return. If your portfolio figure excludes dividends and the index includes them, you are comparing unlike things. Either add your dividends back or use the price-return index.
Second, the window. A one-year return that starts the day after a crash looks nothing like one that starts the day before. Compare over the same dates, and look at more than one window.
Third, currency. All four benchmarks are in rupees. An overseas Pakistani whose real yardstick is dollars should convert both the portfolio and the index before comparing; a 13% rupee return over a year in which the rupee weakened is a smaller number in dollars.
How Equivest helps
Equivest’s portfolio tracker shows your return next to the KSE-100 by default and lets you switch the comparison to the KMI-30, KSE-30, All-Share, PSXDIV20 or any of the 18 PSX indices in the feed, over matching dates. Each holding carries its KMI membership from the live index constituents, so a portfolio that is meant to be halal-only shows immediately if a name has dropped out at a recomposition. The Shariah-compliant PSX basket is built from the same membership list.
This is education, not investment advice.