RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Despite foreign buying, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed bearish trend due to selling by local investors.

BRIndex100 lost 30.76 points or 0.69 percent to close at 4,455.14 points. During the session, the BRIndex100 touched an intraday high of 4,494.52 points and an intraday low of 4,447.02 points. Total volume stood at 101.857 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 100.55 points or 0.44 percent to close at 22,529.95 points with total volumes of 72.121 million shares.

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 212.60 points and closed at 41,099.99 points. Trading activities on the ready counter remained low as daily volumes decreased to 123.343 million shares as compared to 147.763 million shares traded on previous session.

The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $3.5 million. Total market capitalization decreased by Rs 42 billion to Rs 8.600 trillion. Out of total 383 active scrips, 272 closed in negative and only 92 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 16.258 million shares and gained Rs 0.40 to close at Rs 12.86 followed by Chakwal Spinning that lost Re 1.00 to close at Rs 8.92 with 12.079 million shares. Unilever Foods and Service Industries were the top gainer increasing by Rs 200.00 and Rs 48.06 respectively to close at Rs 6700.00 and Rs 1009.40 while Rafhan Maize and Mari Petroleum were the top losers declining by Rs 150.00 and Rs 70.57 respectively to close at Rs 7000.00 and Rs 1471.48.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 18.78 points or 0.23 percent to close at 8,045.15 points with total turnover of 9.967 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 78.3 points or 1.43 percent to close at 5,415.22 points with 9.510 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 43.92 points or 0.91 percent to close at 4,797.12 points with 5.735 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index closed at 1,178.36 points, down 23.93 points or 1.99 percent with 11.158 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 24.34 points or 0.34 percent to close at 7,033.53 points with total turnover of 6.289 million shares.

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that bears dominated the bourse on the back of political uncertainty and as a result the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 212 points to close at 41,100 level. MARI (down 4.58 percent), ARTL (down 5.0 percent), LUCK (down 1.37 percent), SNGP (down 3.70 percent) and NRL (down 1.79 percent) were among the major laggards that dragged the index down by a cumulative 96 points. Selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector, where most heavyweights such as MLCF (down 1.63 percent), DGKC (down 1.60 percent), FCCL (down 2.39 percent) and PIOC (down 2.41 percent) closed down. Profit taking to some extent was seen in the fertilizer sector, where EFERT (down 0.92 percent), FFC (down 1.85 percent) and FATIMA (down 2.67 percent) lost value to close negative.