KARACHI: Despite regaining some early losses in the last session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange remained in negative zone as profit-taking continued on the first trading day. The benchmark 100-index lost 41.14 points to close at 39457.95 points level on Monday.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 39254.05 points and lowest level of 39254.05 points, with the volume of over 186.24 million shares, having about Rs 7.18 billion value. As many as 440 companies were active; of which 221 advanced, 199 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
Textile spinning was the top traded sector with 39,879,300 volume, while power generation & distribution remained second with 27,425,900 volume.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 25.60 million shares, losing Rs 0.02 to finish at Rs 8.70. It was followed by Amtex Limited with 24.56 million shares, gaining Rs 0.65 to end at Rs 2.54 and Dewan Farooque Sp with 11.49 million shares, adding Rs 0.28 to close at Rs 4.41.
The top three gainers were Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7649.99 (135.33), Unilever Foods with price per share of 5800 (75) and Philip Morris Pak per share of 1495.04 (68.24).
The top three losers were Nestle Pak with price per share of 7400 (-105), Colgate Palmo with price per share of 1500 (-40) and Pak Tobacco per share of 1047.98 (-32.52).
Earlier, the stocks opened negative, shedding 156.25 points to drop to 39342.84 points level in early trading. The bearish note continued till midday as the Pakistan Stock Exchange dropped 195.52 points to reach 39303.57 points level.
Last week, the PSX witnessed profit taking during the outgoing week after crossing 40,000 points. Benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 408 points (-1 percent WoW) lower at 39,499 points, with almost all major index heavyweights namely cements (down 0.7 percent WoW on increasing coal prices and strong price run during 2016TD, fertilisers (down 2.6 percent WoW on increasingly weak outlook), banks (down 2.0 percent WoW on continuous foreign selling) and gas utilities (down 3.1 percent WoW after strong price run up), witnessing correction at high levels.
However, the heavyweight oil & gas sector (+1.4 percent WoW) fared better than the rest during the week on the back of rising international crude oil prices. Overall participation recorded improvement with average value traded increasing by 13 percent WoW to $124million/day as corporate result announcements picked up.
