KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday remained under pressure and closed almost flat after gaining just 17.82 points to close at 49452.71 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 49525.48 points and lowest level of 49216.32 points, with the volume of over 274.93 million shares and value of Rs14.02 billion. As many as 381 companies were active; of which 127 advanced, 235 declined and 19 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 23.94 million shares, shedding Rs 0.04 to finish at Rs 9.95. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 19.09 million shares, losing Rs 0.70 to end at Rs 10.75 and Sui North Gas with 15.30 million shares, adding Rs 4.85 to close at Rs 135.29.
The top three gainers were Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 9100 (89), Millat Tractors with price per share of 1243.98 (45.29) and Punjab Oil share of 377 (16.08).
The top three losers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 2940.38 (-154.75), Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 2418.73 (-124.47) and Unilever Foods per share of 5400 (-101.67).
Earlier, the bearish note opened the trading day at the PSX as the benchmark lost 138.25 points in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange shed another 40 points to reach 49394.76 points level as profit-taking continued till midday.
On Monday, profit-taking continued at PSX amid concerns for foreign outflows, higher inflation and rising circular debt in the energy sector due to which benchmark index lost 188.91 points. The market witnessed positive momentum for most part of the day as the index gained to make an intraday high of 217 points but came under selling pressure at the eleventh hour where index lost 189 points to close at 49,434.89 level.
Mixed sentiments were witnessed in banking sector as index heavy weights MCB (rose 0.93) and UBL (0.14%) gained to close in the green zone, whereas on the flipside HBL (slip 0.42%) and NBP (0.89%) weighed down on the index. Overall, volumes declined by 23 percent to 302 million shares, while value declined by 44.1 percent to Rs9.6 billion.
