Late recovery helps stocks close flat
KARACHI: The stock market was able to plug heavy losses of the day earlier as the KSE-100 index closed flat with a nominal gain of 5.69 points (0.02 per cent) at 37,521.81.
There was another doomsday scenario in early trade when the index sank to intraday low by 209 points. But the sell-off of shares worth net $1.9 million by foreign investors and offloading of $1.7m by ‘brokers proprietary trading’ were absorbed by insurance companies that scooped up attractively-valued scrips worth $1.42m and individuals net buying valued at $2.2m.
The index managed to regain losses during the day and make to the intraday high by 76 points. The finance minister’s clarification of no further depreciation of the rupee did not entice investors to buy as they remained deeply concerned about the economy and his earlier day’s caution of choosing between “going bankrupt or to the International Monetary Fund.”
Market wondered on what conditions the IMF would be willing to provide the bailout package and its impact on the corporate bottom lines. Moreover, discouraging data came out from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) as the industry’s total sales down by 7pc.