Stocks manage meagre gains in choppy trading
KARACHI: Stocks managed to snap a six-day losing streak on Monday as the KSE-100 index closed flat with a gain of 25.13 points (0.06 per cent) at 41,648.65.
Trading was choppy with the index initially making to intraday high by 289 points. Although speculations on the finalisation of the care-taker prime minister were taken as an encouraging sign, seen as leading to timely elections, investors’ concerns centred on the deteriorating macroeconomic numbers where the current account deficit swelled to $14 billion in 10MFY18.
On the first day of the rollover week for future contracts, investors decided to liquidate positions and wait and watch for market direction going forward. Participants also tread cautiously, stung by the benchmark index that has lost 5,500 points (11.7pc) since Apr 6.
Investors were however comforted by the fact that the market drifted down by just 32 points intraday. The figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan showed continuing sell-off by foreign investors who offloaded stocks worth net $4.26 million.