KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday witnessed a volatile day and closed almost flat after shedding 17.80 points to reach 40248.41 level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 40368.35 points and lowest level of 40082.70 points, with the volume of 106.33 million shares and value of Rs4.52 billion. As many as 328 companies were active; of which 152 advanced, 162 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 26 million shares, adding Rs0.34 to reach Rs6.01. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 9.52 million shares, gaining Rs0.48 to end at Rs15.32 and BoP with 5.311 million shares, shedding Rs0.06 to close at Rs8.26.
The top three gainers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 7245 (345), Pak Tobacco with price per share of 1590.75 (75.75) and Sapphire Fiber of 830 (36.75).
The top three losers were Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 10450 (-549.99), Bata (Pak) with price per share of 2375 (-125) and Atlas Battery share of 548.60 (-27.40).
Earlier, the stocks started day witnessing fluctuation; however, it remained positive after adding 39 points to reach 40305 level in early trading. The PSX became bearish again till midday as the benchmark 100-index 156 points to drop to 40111 level.
Yesterday, the stocks succumbed to pressure throughout the day owing to uncertainty on the political front and roll-over week pressure. The KSE 100-index pulled off positive in the morning but ultimately bled 326 points to close down at 40,266 points. Key stock such as NBP (down 0.8%), HBL (0.3%) and UBL (0.8%) closed red while MCB (up 0.4%) and BAFL (up 0.4%) closed in the green zone, market participants said.
Major contributors to the index were LUCK 10 points, MCB 6 points, HASCOL 3 points, PGF 3 points and IGIIL added 3 points to the index gain. On the contrary, scrips that contributed negatively included HUBC that shed 40 points, PSO that eroded 32 points, ENGRO that detracted 29 points, PAKT that shed 20 points and NESTLE that took away 19 points from the index. Traded volumes DoD were down 35% to 102m shares while value was up 1% to $51m.