KARACHI: The bearish trend continued to prevail over the Pakistan Stock Exchange as the benchmark 100-index lost psychological barrier of 49,000 after it shed massive 536.03 points to drop to 48655.72 points level at closing on Monday.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 49456.39 points and lowest level of 49048.95 points, with the volume of over 133.04 million shares and value of Rs7.21 billion. As many as 384 companies were active; of which 77 advanced, 290 declined and 17 remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 10.62 million shares, adding Rs 0.80 to finish at Rs 22.74. It was followed by Pak Refinery with 9.98 million shares, losing Rs 3.14 to end at Rs 59.73 and Dost Steels Ltd with 9 million shares, shedding Rs 0.07 to close at Rs 14.12.
The top three gainers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 6034.72 (287.36), Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7899 (99) and Colgate Palmolive share of 2100 (50).
The top three losers were Wyeth Pak with price per share of 2394.98 (-126.05), Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 2095.70 (-110.30) and Philip Morris Pak per share of 2274.89 (-76.99).
Earlier, the stocks opened slightly above the previous level and added 23 points in early trading to reach 49215 points level. The bearish note again dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange as the benchmark 100-index lost massive 360 points till midday.
On Friday, continuous fall in global crude prices compelled the PSX shares index to shed 200 points or (0.41%) to finally close at 49,192 level.
Lackluster activity prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intraday high of 64 points and intraday low of 343 points. Volumes stood low at 183 million shares versus 220 million shares traded on previous day. TPL was the volume leader as more than 11 million shares of the tracker company exchanged hands. E&P sector lost value to close in the red zone as crude prices inched up on Friday after dropping to their lowest in more than three months the session before. OGDC (slip 2.16%) and PPL (1.61%) were the major losers of the aforementioned sector.
