Karachi share market on Tuesday opened in the positive zone and the benchmark KSE-100 index breached 8,000 psychological level to hit 8,009.80 points intra-day high on the back of aggressive buying by local institutions and retail investors. However, this momentum could not continue due to profit taking and the index finally closed at 7,832.85 points, down by 39.64 points.
Volatility remained the main feature as the index moved many times in the negative and the positive zones. The trading volume at ready counter increased to 404.119 million shares as compared to 399.675 million shares traded on Monday.
The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 10 billion to Rs 2.344 trillion. Out of the total 361 active scrips, 243 closed in the negative and 109 in the positive while the value of 9 scrips remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 28.910 million shares and gained Rs 1.48 to close at Rs 41.69. PTCL increased by Re. 0.66 to close at Rs 20.49 with 22.667 million shares.
Arif Habib Sec lost Re. 0.15 to close at Rs 35.21 with 22.665 million shares. The E&P giant, OGDCL surged by Rs 1.09 to close at Rs 81.09 with 22.596 million shares. KESC gained Re. 0.55 to close at Rs 3.96 with 22.011 million shares. DG Khan Cement increased by Re. 0.65 to close at Rs 28.47 with 16.535 million shares.
NIB Bank lost Re. 0.41 to close at Rs 6.37 with 14.259 million shares. NBP increased by Rs 1.46 to close at Rs 107.82 with 14.078 million shares. Lucky Cement declined by Rs 1.63 to close at Rs 58.88 with 13.077 million shares. POL lost Rs 6.92 to close at Rs 177.72 with 11.540 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Attock Petroleum were the highest gainers and gained Rs 20.00 and Rs 11.13 to close at Rs 1825.00 and Rs 307.28 respectively while Wyeth Pak and Fazal Textile were the worst losers and lost Rs 44.50 and Rs 21.32 to close at Rs 1417.50 and Rs 405.23 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that the index breached 8,000 psychological level due to healthy buying in the initial hours. However, the trend did not continue, as the investors preferred booking profits in an overbought market. Overdue correction expectations by retail and institutional investors played a catalyst role for the capital market fall. Fall in oil prices in the international market to $49 per barrel and declining car sales by 49.5 percent during last nine months of this fiscal year also affected the market sentiment negatively, he added.