BRIndex100 retreats

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: After witnessing a bullish trend for many sessions, investors opted to book profit Tuesday that forced the stock market to close on a negative note.

BRIndex100 lost 4.29 points or 0.11 percent to close at 3,864.58 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,868.87 and intraday low of 3,864.58 points. Volumes stood at 263.799 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 72.36 points or 0.36 percent to close at 20,224.15 points with total turnover of 175.943 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index closed at 36,765.56 points, down 37.54 points or 0.10 percent. Daily trading volumes increased to 292.060 million shares as compared to 282.944 million shares traded Monday.

The market capitalization increased by Rs 12 billion to Rs 7.074 trillion. Out of total 381 active scrips, 195 closed in positive, 173 in negative while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 16.150 million shares. It gained Re 0.17 to close at Rs 11.18 followed by Pak Elektron that inched up by Re 0.20 to close at Rs 20.72 with 16.082 million shares. Unilever Foods and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 110.00 and Rs 71.21, respectively to close at Rs 6,717.00 and Rs 1,856.59. Colgate Palmolive and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers with Rs 30.00 and Rs 27.50, respectively to close at Rs 1,950.00 and Rs 572.50.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 100.4 points or 1.87 percent to close at 5,466.41 points with 1.958 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 8.25 points or 0.25 percent to close at 3,331.77 points with 44.576 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 41.62 points or 0.49 percent to close at 8,472.03 points with 18.438 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 163.38 points or 3.32 percent to close at 5,080.02 points with 20.332 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 23.53 points or 0.54 percent to close at 4,312.55 points with 9.789 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 826.44 points, up 11.48 points or 1.41 percent with 33.398 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that after making another stride of 368 points the index fell into bearish spell and saw erosion of gains made during the day, ending the session at a loss of 38 points.

Cement sector that garnered the most trading volume on the bourse, traded green for most part of the session, but saw selling activity in LUCK. On the whole, Banking, Fertilizer and Chemical sector largely performed negative and was further contributed by E&P and OMCs, which saw selling pressure by the end of the session. Cement sector led the volumes with 44.6 million shares, followed by Technology (33.4 million shares) and Chemical (28.1 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Power (up 80 points), Autos (up 17 points), Food (up 16 points), Technology (up 15 points), Fertilizer (down 69 points), Banks (down 49 points), E&P (down 34 points) and Inv Banks (down 27 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include HUBC (up 58 points), INDU (up 16 points), KAPCO (up 14 points), TRG (up 12 points) and DGKC (up 12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include FFC

(down 35 points), DAWH (down 25 points), EFERT (down 25 points), POL (down 20 points) and MCB (down 19 points).