KARACHI: Opened with positive note, the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed bearish after shedding 293.53 points to drop to 46699.78 points level on Wednesday.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 47202.02 points and lowest level of 46665.52 points, with the volume of over 270.42 million shares and value of Rs 13.06 billion. As many as 384 companies were active; of which 123 advanced, 240 declined and 21 remained unchanged.
Pak Int.Bulk was the volume leader with 35.24 million shares, shedding Rs 1.85 to finish at Rs 25.18. It was followed by Dost Steels Ltd with 16.83 million shares, losing Rs 0.01 to end at Rs 10.76 and Engro Polymer with 15.63 million shares, adding Rs 0.31 to close at Rs 17.52.
The top three gainers were Pak Tobacco with price per share of 1115.05 (50.05), Siemens Pak with price per share of 1540.33 (41.41) and Island Textile share of 1105 (41).
The top three losers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 4654.44 (-76.73), Bata (Pak) with price per share of 4555 (-75) and Sanofi-Aventis per share of 2410.96 (-51.54).
Earlier, the stock market started trading in positive way and recouped the overnight losses after adding 140.32 points to regain 47,000 mark and reached 47133.63 points level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange again became bearish till midday and shed 161.54 points to drop to 46831.77 points level.
On Wednesday, the profit-taking halted upward journey of PSX pushing share in red zone. HUBC, LUCK and UBL contributed 114 points to the fall in index. Range bound activity was witnessed at market opening, which was followed by hefty selling as the index lost to make an intraday low of 865 points. Recovery was seen in the market during the latter hours, as the index recovered to close at 46,993 point, declining 217 points or (0.46%).
Profit-taking was witnessed in the Banking sector as the sector closed (down 0.83%) lower than its previous day close. UBL (lower 1.41%) and AKBL (2.47%) were major losers of the aforementioned sector. Despite selling pressure in the market there was nominal decline in the E&P sector only, as the crude oil prices surged to trade above $53.50/bl level. Overall, volumes decreased to 388 million shares as compared to 450 million shares traded yesterday, while value rose to Rs21.7 billion.
