Stocks regain 177 points on expected forex inflows

Shares rose slightly on Thursday as investors expected a breakthrough on the circular debt issue. Topline Securities said the confirmation of the foreign exchange inflows from friendly countries and the announcement of a donor conference scheduled for Jan 9 also helped improve sentiments. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said a day ago the country would soon receive financial help of $3 billion from Saudi Arabia along with a refinancing facility of $1.2bn from China. According to Arif Habib Ltd, share prices oscillated within a small range throu­ghout the trading session while political and economic uncertainty kept the trading volume on the lower side. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,716.74 points, up 177.44 points or 0.44 per cent from the preceding session. The overall trading volume decreased 21.8pc to 111.8 million shares. The traded value went down 28.6pc to $13.6m on a day-on-day basis.