Stocks snap 7-day winning streak on profit-taking
The stock market on Wednesday witnessed a rollercoaster session as the benchmark KSE 100 index witnessed wild fluctuations. However, bears outnumbered bulls, ending the seven-session winning streak and pushing the index into negative territory. Initially, the index surged 1,008.54 points, hitting an intraday high of 91,872.63, but bears entered the market, pulling the index down by 860.78 points to the day’s low of 90,003.31. However, the index settled at 90,286.57 after losing 577.52 points or 0.64pc day-on-day. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed under pressure on institutional profit-taking in overbought scrips. He added that foreign outflows, rising industrial gas tariff, rupee instability and concerns for the outcome of Saudi investors seeking guarantees over stable government policies for a $2bn investment played a catalyst role in the bearish close. Topline Securities Ltd said the downturn was primarily driven by investors engaging in profit-taking, seizing the opportunity to lock in recent gains, thereby pushing the market into the red.