KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday witnessed fluctuation in trading and lost most of the previous gains and closed almost flat in negative zone over profit-taking. The benchmark 100-index shed 13.71 points to drop to 39786.93 points level at closing.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 39860.57 points and lowest level of 39675.28 points, with the volume of over 225.82 million shares, having about Rs 12.5 billion value. As many as 339 companies were active; of which 177 advanced, 138 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
Cement was the top traded sector with 48,388,900 volume, while oil & gas marketing companies remained second with 29,579,600 volume.
Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 29.74 million shares, gaining Rs 0.81 to finish at Rs 16.94. It was followed by Sui North Gas with 20.86 million shares, adding Rs 1.50 to close at Rs 45.70 and TRG Pak Ltd with 13.30 million shares, gaining Rs 0.19 to close at Rs 35.86.
The top three gainers were Atlas Battery with price per share 643.87 (29.16), Sanofi-Aventi with price per share of 589.05 (28.05) and National Refin price per share of 572.02 (27.23).
The top three losers were Nestle Pak with price per share of 7431.25 -68.75), Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7400 (-55) and Lucky Cement per share of 712.14 (-27.64).
Earlier, the PSX remained flat in early trading with 0.34 points gain to reach 39899.98 points level. The stocks lost 77.89 points to reach 39722.75 points level till midday.
On Monday, the stocks made a new all-time high as the benchmark index hit 39,900. The bank decided to keep the discount rate unchanged at 5.75%, which was the lowest in decades. Foreign investors remained net buyers in the outgoing month, which also helped impart confidence to local buyers.
The KSE-100 index banged an all-time high of 39,917.13, up by 388.31 points and closed at a new all-time highest rate of 39,800.64 with 271.82 points appreciation. The commercial banking sector pushed the index up while the KMI 30 index was supported by the cement sector. The market volumes surged to an impressive 203.78 million with the commercial banking sector in lead. The sector recorded volumes of 26.21 million as it celebrated the State Bank’s decision.
