KARACHI: Stocks managed to rebound on Tuesday and recoup about a half of the losses suffered a day earlier. The KSE-100 index closed with a gain of 417.76 points (1.06 per cent) at 39,714.46.

Trading started on a firm note but remained choppy throughout the day with the index making intraday high and low by 689 points and 212 points. Most of the gains came in the final hour which was attributed mainly to buying by insurance companies in the sum of $2.46 million.

According to the traders, investors were torn between the fear of a further fall of the values and the greed to lap up stocks trading at attractive levels. On the news front, there appeared to be a thaw in political wrangling between the government and its coalition partners. Macroeconomic concerns continued to bother investors as the International Monetary Fund is in consultations with the country’s finance managers.

The revenue collection target, which the international lending agency was adamant that the government should meet, has already stoked fears of additional taxes to the tune of Rs200 billion.

The yet to come decision by the Financial Action Task Force on the status of Pakistan — whether black, grey or white — also kept investors uncertain. On the flip side, it was encouraging to see that the heavy foreign selling witnessed last week, had trickled down. Traders said the major corporate results yet to be announced could set the tone of the market. Healthy earnings are anticipated from the exploration and production, chemicals and banking sectors.

On Tuesday, value of shares traded stood down 9pc over the previous day to $39m while volume declined 11pc to 162m shares. Scrip-wise major gainers were Hub Power 4.3pc, Lucky Cement 2.4pc, Oil and Gas Development Company 1.5pc, Pakistan State Oil 3.3pc, Pakistan Oilfields 2.4pc and Engro Corporation 0.8pc which cumulatively contributed 217 points to the index upside.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2020