KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a bullish day on the first day of new week as the benchmark 100-index gained 71.82 points to take the tally to 48227.75 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 48384.02 points and lowest level of 48120.93 points, with the volume of over 159.92 million shares and value of Rs9.55 billion. As many as 372 companies were active; of which 128 advanced, 230 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 15.89 million shares, adding Rs 0.10 to finish at Rs 25.56. It was followed by BoP with 11.77 million shares, losing Rs 0.60 to end at Rs 13.84 and Azgard Nine with 11.40 million shares, shedding Rs 0.35 to close at Rs 13.01.
The top three gainers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 2539.37 (120.92), Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 9200 (105) and Indus Motor Co share of 1671.13 (79.57).
The top three losers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 5890 (-310), Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7262.06 (-137.94) and Pak Tobacco per share of 1476.67 (-37.91).
Earlier, the stocks started new week on positive note and gained 151 points to take the tally to 48307 points level in early trading. Despite shedding most of the early gains, the Pakistan Stock Exchange remained in green zone as the benchmark 100-index gained 34 points to 48190 points level till midday.
On Friday, stocks showed recovery in a late session rally in oil, autos and pharma scrips on strong valuations. Market remained under pressure during the first half of the trading session as the index dropped to make an intraday low of 271 points. However, recovery was witnessed in the last hour of the trading session as the index acquired 207.60 points to close above 48,156.
Major contribution to the index came from MCB (gain 1.92%), MARI (5%) and UBL (1.08%), whereas on the flip side HBL (slip 1.43%), LUCK (0.83%) and FFC (0.55%) weighed down on the index. Overall, volumes increased by 13% to 273mn shares, while value decreased by 9% at Rs11.8b.