Index loses 29.59 points

After witnessing a bullish trend during last many sessions, the investors on Monday opted for profit taking and the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 29.59 points to close at 16,213.68 points. Selling was seen from both local and foreign fronts. The offshore investors sold shares worth 0.71 million dollars.
The market opened on positive note and the index hit 16,292.86 points intra-day high however this trend could not continue as the investors opted to book profits on available levels and the index dropped into negative zone at 16,199.15 points intra-day low level.
Trading activities also remained low as the volumes at ready counter declined to 149.414 million shares as compared to 152.936 million shares traded on last trading session. Total market capitalisation reduced by six billion rupees to stand at Rs 4.043 trillion. Of the total 331 active stocks, 162 closed in positive and 145 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.
JS Bank was the volume leader with 17.502 million shares and gained Re 0.54 to close at Rs 6.45 followed by Azgard Nine that inched up by Re 0.54 to close at Rs 7.59 with 17.365 million shares. In the cement sector, Lucky Cement and DG Khan Cement increased by Re 0.11 and Re 0.60 to close at Rs 6.64 and Rs 53.25 with 11.49 million shares and 7.317 million shares respectively, while Lafarge Pakistan lost Re 0.05 to close at Rs 5.25 with 3.508 million shares.
Jahangir Siddiqui Co surged by Rupee one to close at Rs 16.14 with 11.419 million shares. JS Investments gained Re 0.49 to close at Rs 9.59 with 7.249 million shares. BoP gained Re 0.23 to close at Rs 8.73 with 3.544 million shares. Fatima Fertiliser Co increased by Re 0.30 to close at Rs 26.37 with 3.429 million shares. Nishat (Chunian) lost Re 0.50 to close at Rs 28.08 with 3.424 million shares. Unilever Food and Island Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 180.00 and Rs 24.42 to close at Rs 3780.00 and Rs 512.93 respectively, while Exide and Sitara Chemical were the net losers declining by Rs 13.00 and Rs 6.74 to close at Rs 317 and Rs 177 respectively.
Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities said that the prevailing law and order situation of the city forced investors to trim their portfolio. The oil and fertiliser sectors remained under pressure, while some cherry picking was seen in cement sector. JSCL continued to close at its upper cap after PICT sale recorded last week.