Stocks falter as IMF assesses economy

As an unplanned economic assessment by the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team entered its second day, the stock market on Tuesday snapped its record-breaking streak amid aggressive profit-taking, forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index to close in the red. Initially, the benchmark KSE-100 index added 223.29 points to 93,871.62. However, it could not hold on to the early gains as some investors indulged in profit-selling, wiping out 755.22 points to 92,893.11 intraday. Finally, the index settled at 93,224.56 after losing 423.76 points or 0.45pc day-on-day. Topline Securities Ltd attributed the downturn to investors choosing to book profits on prominent stocks that had appreciated in recent sessions.