KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange lost the psychological barrier of 47,000 till midday after shedding huge 426.30 points to drop to 47949.33 points level on Thursday.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 48504.40 points and lowest level of 47820.31 points, with the volume of over 241.24 million shares and value of Rs10.80 billion. As many as 364 companies were active; of which 85 advanced, 262 declined and 17 remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 34.03 million shares, gaining Rs 0.89 to finish at Rs 13.10. It was followed by BoP with 25.61 million shares, losing Rs 1.00 to end at Rs 15.05 and Jah Sidd Co with 19.89 million shares, adding Rs 1.20 to close at Rs 27.01.
The top three gainers were Philip Morris Pak with price per share of 2699.54 (102.05), Mari Petroleum with price per share of 1448.07 (68.95) and Sapphire Fiber share of 1012.75 (31.75).
The top three losers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 2545.73 (-132.45), Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 2031.69 (-104.32) and Nestle Pakistan per share of 9000 (-100).
The stocks, soon after opening positive, became bearish and lost 52 points to reach 48324 points level in early trading. The PSX lost huge 437 points to drop to 47939 points level till midday.
On Wednesday, the bearish sentiments continued to persist at PSX in third consecutive session and profit-taking led the shares index to decline by 148 points and to finish at 48,376 level.
E&P sector increased in value to close in the green zone as oil prices edged higher, hitting a one-week high. Banking sector (slip 0.7%) extended its previous day loss and closed in the red as the sector’s heavy weights, MCB (decline 1.6%) and HBL (1.7%), closed in the red again. ANL (slip 4.2%), BOP (3.9%) and POWER (rose 3.5%) were the volume leaders. Overall, volumes increased by 24 percent to 272 million shares, while value rose by 32 percent at Rs13.7 billion.
