Stocks falter on high inflation, pre-poll concerns

After staging the second-best single-day rally the other day, the stock market on Tuesday faltered on profit-taking triggered by a spike in headline inflation and growing uncertainty about upcoming general elections. However, the benchmark KSE 100 index closed above the 64,000 level. Beating the government’s projection of 21pc with a big margin, the first-half inflation for FY24 surged to 28.79pc compared to 25.02pc in the corresponding period last year on the back of rising food and electricity prices. The reading for December quickened to 29.7pc from 29.2pc in the preceding month. Topline Securities Ltd said the index demonstrated volatility posting an intraday high of 671.92 points to 65,333.70 and a decline of 448.16 points to 64,213.63. Wild price fluctuations during the trading hours were observed in Hub Power Company Ltd, Mari Petroleum Company Ltd, Systems Ltd, Engro Corporation Ltd, and Lucky Cement Ltd, collectively incurring a loss of 176 points.