KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed fluctuation in trading and lost almost all the early gains and closed flat after adding only 8.64 points to reach 48713.63 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 48934.00 points and lowest level of 48642.09 points, with the volume of over 329 million shares and value of Rs 21.88 billion. As many as 400 companies were active; of which 195 advanced, 177 declined and 28 remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 24.02 million shares, gaining Rs 0.67 to finish at Rs 17.71. It was followed by Dost Steels Ltd with 21.07 million shares, adding Rs 0.35 to end at Rs 13.28 and K-Electric with 13.04 million shares, losing Rs 0.10 to close at Rs 9.29.
The top three gainers were Ghandhara Ind with price per share of 841 (40.04), National Refinery with price per share of 595.42.50 (27.90) and Packages Ltd share of 879.52 (26.31).
The top three losers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 5900 (-100), Philip Morris Pak with price per share of 2660 (-90) and Colgate Palmolive per share of 1681 (-44).
Earlier, the Pakistan Stock Exchange recouped some previous losses in early trading after gaining 70 points to reach 48775 points level. The PSX remained bullish till midday and added 177.72 points to take the tally to 48882.71 points level.
On Wednesday, the profit-taking halted upward trajectory of the PSX as a result the shares index lost 122 points or (0.25%). Volatility prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intraday high of 241 points and intraday low of 192 points to finally close at 48,705 level.
Profit-taking was witnessed in fertiliser sector as the sector closed (0.4%) lower than its previous day close. FATIMA (down 0.97%) and FFBL (1.01%) were top losers of the aforementioned sector. Pressure was witnessed in the Cement sector as investors await cement dispatch numbers due to be released later this week. CHCC (slump 2.25%) and FCCL (105 were major losers from the aforementioned sector.
Overall, volumes decreased by 19.5 percent to 403 million shares, while value decreased by 20 percent to Rs21.7 billion.