KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed fluctuation in trading and closed almost flat over profit-taking as the benchmark 100-index gained 7.33 points to close at 42411.80 points level.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 42526.93 points and lowest level of 42326.98 points, with the volume of over 496 million shares and value of Rs 15.55 billion. As many as 408 companies were active; of which 203 advanced, 182 declined and 23 remained unchanged.
Dost Steel was the volume leader with 52.31 million shares, adding Rs 1.00 to finish at Rs 5.18. It was followed by PIAC with 41.49 million shares, gaining Rs 0.98 to end at Rs 11.63 and BoP with 27.89 million shares, shedding Rs 0.38 to close at Rs 19.34.
The top three gainers were Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 3916.55 (186.50), Philip Morris Pak with price per share of 1920.02 (82.96) and Island Textile share of 1260 (60).
The top three losers were Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7457.50 (-242.50), Khyber Tobacco with price per share of 971.10 (-46.90) and Sapphire Fiber per share of 978.95 (-18.55).
Earlier, the Pakistan Stock Exchange opened keeping previous day’s bullish note and added 62.83 points level to reach 42467.30 points level in early trading. The PSX remained bullish till midday as the benchmark 100-index added 75 points to take the tally to 42479.77 points level.
On Wednesday, the stocks witnessed range-bound session, with the 100-share index recovering 111.80 points to close at 42,404.47 points. Volatility prevailed in the market as the index, after trading between an intra-day high of 188 points and intra-day low of 79 points, finally closed at 42,404 points. Of total 424 active scrips that participated in the session, 209 finished in red, 184 concluded in green while 31 went unchanged. Overall, volumes increased by 5.4% to 385m shares, while value increased by 11.1% to Rs13.0b/$125m.
Stocks showed recovery, led by cement, banking and oil scrips on investor speculations over CPEC projects and surge in global crude prices above $45/barrel. Concerns for foreign outflows and dismal falling FDI data invited early session pressure.
