KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued shedding previous gains as the benchmark 100-index lost 445 points to drop to 49513 points level till midday on Friday.
Earlier, the stocks started day on bearish note and shed 111 points to reach 49847 points level in early trading.
On Thursday, the stocks market witnessed another lacklustre session as the benchmark shares index shed 205points, closing up at 49958.33 levels. Index point laggars were HBL (slip 3pc), DGKC (2.1pc), DAWH (2.4pc), OGDC (1pc) & ISL (3.7pc), with negative contribution of 197 points; while NESTLE (up 2pc), SEARL (1.9pc), HUBC (0.7pc), BAHL (1.2pc) and ICI (2.6pc) added 64 points. Major sectors witnessed minor profit-taking as Banks shed 84 points, cement 50 points and fertiliser 35 points.
Market participation veered from blue chips, volume rose 16pc whereas traded value inched up 4pc to Rs11.8b/$112m. Foreigners were net buyers of $14.7m, comprising of gross buy/sell $36/22m, with $3.4m net buying in Banks. Bank of Punjab led the market with 26m traded shares. Total 377 active companies participated in the session, of which 146 finished in advance, 217 in decline while 14 remained unchanged.
