Index sheds 125.80 points

The KSE-100 index on Wednesday lost 125.80 points to close at 9,349.68 points level due to profit taking mainly opted by local investors. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 9,588.58 points intra-day high level, up 113.10 points mainly on support of foreign investors with a net inflow of $11 million of foreign portfolio investment at the local equity market.
However, this momentum could not continue as the local investors opted to offload their holdings on available margins and the index dropped into negative zone to reach 9,321.69 points level, down 153.79 points. The trading volumes at the ready counter increased to 432.826 million shares as compared to 353.639 million shares traded on Tuesday. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 33 biillion to Rs 2.715 trillion. Out of 435 active scrips, 227 closed in negative and 190 in positive while the value of 18 scrips remained unchanged.
TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 34.692 million shares and gained Re. 0.20 to close at Rs 2.44. Jahangir Siddiqui Co surged by Rs 1.38 to close at Rs 38.32 with 33.737 million shares. WorldCall Telecom increased by Re. 0.88 to close at Rs 4.32 with 30.995 million shares.
Pace (Pak) gained Re. 0.61 to close at Rs 8.83 with 29.763 million shares. Arif Habib Sec lost Re. 0.47 to close at Rs 42.98 with 24.381 million shares. Telecard increased by Re. 1.00 to close at Rs 4.92 with 18.135 million shares. OGDC declined by Re. 0.84 to close at Rs 107.38 with 14.719 million shares. In the banking sector, NBP and UBL declined by Rs 1.58 and Re. 0.04 to close at Rs 83.47 and Rs 59.72 with 14.699 million shares and 13.680 million shares respectively.
However, NIB Bank gained Re. 0.13 to close at Rs 5.62 with 14.320 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Siemens Pak were the highest gainers and gained Rs 50.00 and Rs 48.66 to close at Rs 1199.97 and Rs 1414.50 respectively, while Rafhan Maize and Bata (Pak) were the worst losers and lost Rs 57.73 and Rs 21.00 to close at Rs 1596.67 and Rs 979.00 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that intense selling was witnessed on SBP move to keep discount rate unchanged in monetary policy review. The investors remained concerned over high inflation and leverage cost. Non-availability of leverage products, rumours on RBS/MCB deal approval by SBP and institutional profit taking played a catalyst role in negative activity at KSE.