Market shows mixed trend

A mixed trend was witnessed at the Karachi share market on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index oscillating between 11,996.53 points intra-day high and 11,864.10 points intra-day low with extremely low volumes.
The investors remained cautious due to prevailing uncertainty on political front and preferred to offload their holdings. On the other hand, Faisalabad blast also affected investor sentiment negatively and invited selling at the local bourse. The index closed at the level of 11,940.01 points, declining by 34.54 points with two-week lowest volumes.
Due to absence of investors, trading activity remained extremely low as the volumes at ready counter declined to 54.216 million shares as compared to 116.942 million shares traded on Monday. The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 9 billion to stand at Rs 3.217 trillion. Out of total 367 active scrips, 154 closed in negative and 110 in positive while the value of 103 scrips remained unchanged.
Nimir Ind Chemical was the volume leader with 7.856 million shares gaining Re 0.27 to close at Rs 2.90. In the banking sectors, JS Bank closed at the same level at Rs 3.10 with 6.919 million shares, while NBP declined by Re 0.33 to close at Rs 78.83 with 3.295 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA inched up by Re 0.02 to close at Rs 15.59 with 3.376 million shares.
Nishat Mills declined by Re 0.74 to close at Rs 63.56 with 2.208 million shares. Azgard Nine decreased by Re 0.21 to close at Rs 9.04 with 1.781 million shares. Descon Oxychem gained Re 0.32 to close at Rs 7.31 with 1.353 million shares. Fauji Foundation Bin Qasim lost Re 0.34 to close at Rs 42.77 with 1.336 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co decreased by Re 0.28 to close at Rs 9.04 with 1.313 million shares. Arif Habib Corp lost Re 0.46 to close at Rs 21.21 with 1.283 million shares.
Bata Pak and Tri-Pack Films were the top gainers increasing by Rs 6.80 and Rs 5.30 to close at Rs 542.78 and Rs 143.57, respectively while Unilever Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the worst losers with Rs 34.24 and Rs 11.92 to close at Rs 4679.13 and Rs 3402.73, respectively.
Farhan Mahmood, senior analyst at Topline Securities said dull trading activity was witnessed at the local bourse as the investors remained on the sidelines due to political uncertainty in the country. Trading was seen mostly in low-priced stocks. Due to their cautious stance, investors remained totally on the fences and the daily trading volumes stood at two-week lowest level.