Stocks crumble under selling pressure
KARACHI: Bears took charge of the stock market on Wednesday, a day ahead of the historic appearance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before a joint investigation team (JIT) probing corruption allegations against his family.
The trading was choppy with the benchmark KSE-100 index opening on a bullish note. But after adding 531 points, the benchmark succumbed to selling pressure as individuals and mutual funds exited positions. Foreign investors continued buying spree for the sixth session, picking up stocks worth $3.43 million on Wednesday.
The benchmark index finally ended with a loss of 462 points, or 0.96 per cent, to close again below the 48,000 level.
Volumes fell 19pc over the earlier day to 256m shares. Mid-tier stocks Dost Steels, TRG Pakistan and K-Electric as volume leaders contributed 39m shares to the total turnover. Traded value stood reduced by 30pc to Rs15 billion.