KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark 100-Index once again closed lower on Monday, losing 667.53 points or 1.57pc amidst tight volumes as the index slid below 42,000 points to close at 41,974 points.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 42784.72 points and lowest level of 41836.10 points, with the volume of over 103.176 million shares and value of Rs5.63 billion. As many as 343 companies were active; of which 81 advanced, 238 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 12.74 million shares, shedding Re1 to reach Rs14.89. It was followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 11.49 million shares, dropping Rs1.90 to end at Rs36.17 and Sui South Gaswith 7.82 million shares, shedding Rs0.05 to close at Rs37.58.
The top three gainers were Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7349.34 (349.96), Bata (Pak) with price per share of 3085.25 (145.25) and Philip Morris Pak of 2922.68 (122.68).
The top three losers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 6250 (-150), Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 1696.69 (-89.29) and Mari Petroleum share of 1599 (-84.15).
Earlier, the stocks started new trading week on negative note and shed 216 points to drop to 42426.11 points level in early trading. The bearish note further deepened at the PSX as the benchmark 100-index shed huge 468 points to reach 42173.66 points level till midday.
On Friday, the stocks ended the trading week on positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 373 points or (0.88 percent) to close at 42,642 points.
The KSE-100 index continued its bearish momentum during the first half of the trading session as the index made an intraday low of 432 points, however recovered during the second half, closing at 42,642 level, brokers said. LUCK (up 3.87pc), SNGP (gain 4.78pc), HBL (up 1.08pc) and DGKC (rose 3.43pc) were the major leaders for the day cumulatively contributing 161 points to the index. On the other hand, TRG (down 4.59pc), PPL (slip 0.74pc), FFC (dip 0.75pc), and KAPCO (slump 1.12pc) were the major laggards, taking the index down by 44 points.
Volumes deteriorated 4 percent day-on-day standing at 177 million shares as compared to 185 million shares in the previous trading session. While traded value declined to Rs9.3 billion/$89 million.
