KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-index lost 154.26 points or 0.44 percent to reach 34672.25 points and volume of 230,121,490 shares on Wednesday, despite government’s portrayal of national economy as most favorable to investors and traders, in a briefing to senate standing committee.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index reached 34849.19 points owing to the rise in oil prices in the international market, and the index gained 22.68 points or 0.07 per cent till mid day trading on Wednesday.
In the early trade, the KSE-100 Index had surged to all-time high of 34993.75 points with a positive change of 167.24 or 0.48 percent mainly due to favourable CPI Inflation data for Jan’15 at 3.88pc YoY, renewed hopes for disbursement of $550m tranche following IMF Review and expectations for key announcements on privatisation of SOEs.
The High and Low were 35055.94 and 34594.80points with total trade volume of 230,121,490.
Both the factors combined result in the high trading activity by foreign and local investors. Experts said while the rise in international oil prices kept investors’ interest alive in the heavyweight energy stocks, cement stocks saw profit-taking after rallying in the last few sessions. The High and Low were 35024.22 and 34826.51 respectively with total volume of 13,140,550 traded in the Karachi Stock Exchange. Earlier, the market opened on a positive note and later juggled between the red and green zone. Experts said that amid sharp recovery in WTI Crude Oil crossing $51/barrel, stocks closed on a new all time high led by blue chip oil stocks.
