Index sheds 111.83 points

The benchmark KSE-100 index on Thursday lost another 111.83 points and settled at 5,753.18 points level due to continuous selling pressure on the first session of the new year. Trading volume at the ready market stood at 75.434 million as compared to 78.682 million traded a day earlier.
The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 31 billion to Rs 1.827 trillion. Trading took place in 230 scrips, out of which 114 closed in the negative and 106 in the positive while the value of 10 scrips remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the overall volume leader of the day with 6.716 million shares and gained Re 0.13 to close at Rs 3.10. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim lost Re 0.21 to close at Rs 12.69 with 6.357 million shares. TRG Pakistan increased by Re 0.27 to close at Rs 2.05 with 4.930 million shares.
Pervez Ahmed lost Re 0.40 to close at Rs 3.21 with 4.495 million shares. NIB Bank gained Re 0.22 to close at Rs 4.89 with 3.870 million shares. Saudi Pak Bank declined by Re 0.26 to close at Rs 4.75 with 3.433 million shares. Pak PTA Limited gained Re 0.22 to close at Rs 1.81 with 3.341 million shares.
Pace (Pak) Limited increased by Re 0.56 to close at Rs 9.20 with 2.981 million shares. Arif Habib Bank surged by Re 0.34 to close at Rs 5.87 with 2.626 million shares. Hub Power closed at Rs 15.09, up by Re 1.00 with 2.508 million shares.
PPL and Packages Limited were the highest gainers and gained Rs 5.03 and Rs 3.88 to close at Rs 105.65 and Rs 85.07 respectively while Rafhan Maize and Pak Services Limited were the worst losers and lost Rs 119.07 and Rs 21.53 to close at Rs 2262.35 and Rs 409.09 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that activity at the local share market remained high on investors expectations over State Enterprise Fund of Rs 20 billion to bail out capital market. However, liquidity crunch and CFS nonavailability remained a major concern for investors. Investors remained cautious as selling activity continued by distressed brokers and institutions, he added.