KSE index loses 99.33 points

The KSE-100 index on Tuesday lost 99.33 points to close at 9,204.98 points despite foreign investors' interest, mainly due to heavy selling by local players. The market opened on a positive note and remained volatile throughout the day with the index oscillating between 9,360.11 points intra-day high and 9,187.85 points low. Foreign investors' interest continued with a net buying of $4.489 million.
Trading volume also shrank at ready counter to 184.030 million shares as compared to 196.625 million shares traded on Monday. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 29 billion to Rs 2.657 trillion. Trading took place in 402 scrips, out of which 241 closed in negative and 143 in positive, while the value of 18 scrips remained unchanged. PTCL was the volume leader with 25.594 million shares and gained Re. 0.10 to close at Rs 18.32.
Pak PTA increased by Re. 0.09 to close at Rs 7.58 with 24.723 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 1.85 to close at Rs 64.86 with 15.333 million shares. Azgard Nine closed at Rs 21.71, up Re. 0.60 to close at Rs 21.71 with 8.219 million shares.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim gained Re. 0.63 to close at Rs 26.04 with 7.646 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co increased by Re. 0.94 to close at Rs 30.51 with 7.615 million shares. OGDC declined by Re. 1.00 to close at Rs 106.08 with 7.375 million shares. Arif Habib Sec lost Rs 1.36 to close at Rs 48.77 with 6.387 million shares.
Bank Al Falah and NBP declined by Re. 0.43 and Rs 1.58 to close at Rs 13.55 and Rs 76.84 with 6.861 million shares and 4.347 million shares respectively. Bata (Pak) and Unilever Food were the highest gainers and increased by Rs 19.55 and Rs 18.00 to close at Rs 1000.00 and Rs 1329.50 respectively, while Siemens Pak and Nestle Pak were the worst losers and declined by Rs 58.71 and Rs 36.00 to close at Rs 1298.04 and Rs 1200.00 respectively.
Khurram Schehzad at Invest Capital & Securities said that the market witnessed a correction of almost 100 points on Tuesday. He said that the foreign investors' interest continued at the local equity market with a fresh net buying of over $4.489 million. However, he said, the local investors opted for profit taking on available margins. He said that the issue of NRO and expected re-opening of cases of NRO beneficiaries remained a major concern for local investors and forced them to offload their holdings.