Stocks Observer. com

By Khalid Qayum Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- National Investment Trust, Pakistan’s biggest money manager, bought stocks for the first time from a 20 billion rupee ($250 million) fund announced this month to stabilize the market after a 58 percent slump last year. “We bought shares for the first time today and will continue to buy at good rates and values,” Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman of the state-owned National Investment, said in a telephone interview from Karachi today. Pakistan shares fell for 13 consecutive sessions starting Dec. 15 when the stock exchange ended a trading curb that had prevented the benchmark index from falling below its Aug. 27 level of 9,144.93 points. The drop in the benchmark index last year was the first annual decline in seven years. Pakistan’s benchmark Karachi 100 Index rose 0.3 percent to 6059.09 at the 3:30 p.m. local-time close. The gauge fell 1.7 percent yesterday after a 6.8 percent increase in the previous four sessions after National Investment said it woul