KARACHI: Opened positive, the Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday dropped almost all the early gains and closed almost flat as the benchmark 100-index gained 16.93 points to reach 49925.08 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 50093.38 points and lowest level of 49845.85 points, with the volume of over 354.87 million shares and value of Rs 17.38 billion. As many as 397 companies were active; of which 157 advanced, 226 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
Power Cement was the volume leader with 26.57 million shares, gaining Rs 0.86 to finish at Rs 18.85. It was followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 19.58 million shares, adding Rs 0.59 to end at Rs 61.65 and Aisha Steel Mill with 18.53 million shares, gaining Rs 1.19 to close at Rs 28.22.
The top three gainers were Island Textile with price per share of 1129 (51.92), Shell Pakistan with price per share of 559.67 (26.65) and Jubile Life Ins share of 644.04 (25.09).
The top three losers were Mari Petroleum with price per share of 1338.90 (-56), Ghandhara Ind with price per share of 949.13 (-49.66) and Sanofi-Aventis per share of 2800 (-40.41).
Earlier, the stocks started trading with positive note and gained 106 points to 50014 points level in early trading. The PSX witnessed fluctuation till midday but remained in green zone after adding 56.95 points to reach 49965 points level.
On Thursday, the stocks witnessed another range bound session, by midday the index managed to breach past 50,000 points psychological barrier lead by strong gains in cements, yet the market succumbed to selling pressure in the second half to close up just 33 points. Positivity prevailed in the market for most part of the day as the index gained to make an intraday high of 322 points but came under selling pressure during the latter hours as the index lost to close on a flat note (up 0.07%).
KEL was the volume leader as more than 61 million shares of the power company exchanged hands. Volumes grew by 8 percent to 539 million shares, while value rose by 18 percent to Rs24.5 billion as investors interest was tilted to blue chip companies.
