Stocks begin flirting with 86,000 milestone
The stock market on Wednesday continued its winning streak for the seventh straight session on higher remittances, briefly crossing 86,000 intraday on easing political tensions and specula-tions of robust corporate earnings. However, despite aggressive foreign selling, the index scaled an all-time high with meagre gains. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks hit a new high aided by banking scrips after the State Bank of Pakistan revised per-party exposure limits for small and medium enterprises and 29pc year-on-year increase to $2.8bn in September. He said the market witnessed a midsession selling on falling global crude oil prices and foreign outflows. Topline Securities Ltd said the KSE-100 index experienced significant volatility, peaking at 86,451 and dipping to 85,444, mainly due to profit-taking and the index’s inability to sustain gains above 86,000. However, institutional buying supported the index for positive closing.