Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
The KSE-100 index inched down on Thursday and closed with a loss of 17 points as investors resorted to profit-booking despite encouraging trade figures.
Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed a 14% contraction in trade deficit on a monthly basis.
In addition to that, the Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields fell once again in Wednesday’s auction, giving investor sentiment a boost, which was reflected in early trading.
In the morning, trading began on an upbeat note, however, selling pressure emerged shortly as investors began offloading stocks and the index dipped by midday. A buying spree towards the end of the session helped wipe off the losses and the market ended on a flat note.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 17.25 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 40,514.17.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that trading in the market was no different from what had been going on since the beginning of the week.
