Stocks recover overnight losses
KARACHI: Stocks turned bullish on Thursday as the KSE-100 index gained 168.59 points (0.43 per cent) to recoup all of the losses incurred a day earlier. The index closed at 39,090.28 after hitting intraday peak by 304 points.
The fuel that fired investors’ buying interest were the reports that the Financial Action Task Force had expressed a degree of satisfaction over Pakistan’s efforts and action plan to combat money laundering and terror financing under international obligations and indicated certain areas to do more before May this year to move out of the grey list.
The positive development did not quite allay the investors’ concerns over the supplementary budget expected to be presented in on Jan 17-18, which is why the index moved both ways but the bulls supported the benchmark throughout the day at above the 39,000 level.
According to figures released by National Clearing Company of Pakistan, insurance companies mopped up much of the liquidity with net buying of $1.66m worth shares.
Volume declined further declined 16pc to 111.9m shares while the traded value fell 22pc to $33m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Bank of Punjab, Worldcall Telecom, Pak Elektron, K-Electric and Sui Southern Gas Company, which together accounted for 36pc of total turnover.