Stocks close in red for third consecutive session

Despite massive foreign buying on Thursday, the stock market turned in a depressed performance amid the widening of the fiscal deficit and dismal auto sales data, forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index to close in the red for the third consecutive session. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market remained under pressure amid a slump in global crude oil prices and steady government treasury bond yields, which dimmed rate cut hopes. Automobile sales fell 38pc year-on-year in July-March, the fiscal deficit swelled to 7.4pc of GDP for FY24, and the weak rupee and SBP fines on blue-chip commercial banks for regulatory violations fuelled the bearish sentiments. However, the chief concern for the economic stakeholders remains the uncertainty about the outcome of the ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund for a new, larger and longer Extended Fund Facility.