KARACHI: Opened with positive note, the Pakistan Stock Exchange shed all the early gains in the last session as benchmark 100-index shed 306.52 points to drop to 49210.50 points level over profit-taking at closing on Friday, the last trading day.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 49673.17 points and lowest level of 49151.47 points, with the volume of over 514 million shares and value of Rs 23.64 billion. As many as 412 companies were active; of which 162 advanced, 235 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
Ist Dawood Bank was the volume leader with 28.84 million shares, adding Rs 0.36 to finish at Rs 7.99. It was followed by Pace (Pak) Ltd with 24.60 million shares, shedding Rs 0.83 to end at Rs 24.60 and Sui South Gas with 24.16 million shares, gaining Rs 1.56 to close at Rs 37.95.
The top three gainers were Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 2868 (136.06), Pak Tobacco with price per share of 1273.10 (60.59) and Ghandhara Ind share of 931.04 (44.33).
The top three losers were Bata (Pak) with price per share of 4180 (-220), Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 1710 (-89.99) and Wyeth Pak Ltd per share of 4901 (-59).
Earlier, the stocks continued its upward journey to cross psychological barrier of 50,000 mark as the benchmark gained 89 points to reach 49606 points level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) dropped some early gains but remained positive as the index added 31.40 points to reach 49548.42 points level till midday.
On Thursday, the PSX continued its upward trajectory as the index initially gained to make an intraday high of 433 points. However, profit taking was observed towards the end of the day with index ultimately closing at 49,517 level by gaining 145.42 points.
Profit taking was observed in the textile sector with key names such as NML (down 1.73pc), NCL (3.05pc) and GATM (4.78pc) closing in the red zone. Hubco JV stake increase to 47.5 percent in the imported coal fired project and speculations in banking, auto and pharma stocks played a catalyst role in record close.
SNGP closed at its upper limit of 5 percent in anticipation of better upcoming result. Profit-taking was seen in fertiliser stocks as investors remained sceptical about the subsidy on urea manufacturers. Overall, volumes increased by 18 percent to 563m shares, while value declined by 9.2pc to Rs22.6 billion.
