KARACHI: Opened with positive note, the Pakistan Stock Exchange became bearish after shedding 262 points to drop to 38382 points level at closing on Monday.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 38703.15 points and lowest level of 38337.37 points, with the volume of 50.04 million shares and value of Rs2.67 billion. As many as 3237 companies were active; of which 80 advanced, 229 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
TRG Pak Ltd was the volume leader with 4.35 million shares, shedding Rs1.52 to reach Rs29.05. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 3.39 million shares, gaining Rs0.02 to end at Rs14.60 and Crescent Star with 2.18 million shares, shedding Rs0.04 to close at Rs0.15.
The top three gainers were Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 2750 (109), Bhanero Tex with price per share of 661.51 (31.50) and United Brands of 393.11 (18.71).
The top three losers were Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 1206.01 (-16.99), Khyber Tobacco with price per share of 1576.23 (-16.72) and Pak. Int. Cont share of 320 (-15).
Earlier, the stocks started new week on slightly positive note and added 43 points to reach 36689 points level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange shed 156 points to reach 384490 points level till midday.
Last week, the index plummeted for the fifth consecutive week with benchmark KSE-100 index posting 1.1 percent WoW decline to close at 38,646 points level.
Heavyweights such as Cements (down 6.0 percent WoW), OMCs (down 1.1 percent WoW), Banks (-0.5 percent WoW) and Autos (down 3 percent WoW) extending losses. Some gains were posted by E&Ps (up 1.4 percent WoW), but the performance remained insufficient to counter across-the-board free-fall. Market participation also suffered with average traded volumes (down 4.4 percent WoW to 135 million), witnessing a decline.
Experts said that Benchmark KSE-100 index fell 1.1 percent WoW to close at the 38.6k mark. Volatility in currency and political uncertainty, where National Assembly Speaker’s comments that assemblies would not complete their tenures, led the market falling to new lows.
Stocks including LUCK (-8 percent WoW), ISL (-11 percent), DGKC (-7 percent), SEARL (-7 percent) and UBL (-2 percent) held 255pts from the index, while PPL (+3 percent), ENGRO (+3 percent), HBL (+2 percent), OGDC (+1 percent) and SNGP (+5 percent) added 208pts. On the sector front; Engineering & Refineries shed 8 percent, Cement & Pharma were down 7 percent, Autos lost 3 percent, Banks -1 percent, while E&Ps & Fertilizer gained 1 percent & Tobacco was up 2 percent.
Foreigners sold $8.9m during the week (vs. buying of $1.0m last week). On the local front, banks were net the buyers of $11.3 million worth of shares whereas individuals were net sellers of $17.8 million.