Karachi share market witnessed another dull session on Tuesday mainly due to the absence of leverage product and confusion regarding imposition of new tax on brokerage, analysts said. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 33.78 points to close at 7,023.48 points level. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 7,085.19 points intra-day high level.
Trading activity shrank further as the daily volumes at the ready counter declined to 86.428 million shares as compared to 98.404 million shares traded on Monday. The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 9 billion to Rs 2.082 trillion.
The foreign investors remained net buyers on the second consecutive day with a fresh inflow of $266,358 of portfolio investment in the share market on Tuesday. Trading took place in 308 scrips, out of which 166 closed in the negative and 114 in the positive while the value of 28 scrips remained unchanged.
DG Khan Cement was the volume leader with 9.076 million shares and gained Re. 0.51 to close at Rs 29.14. Hub Power increased by Re. 0.96 to close at Rs 27.92 with 7.355 million shares. JS Growth closed at Rs 3.69, down by Re. 0.01 with 6.036 million shares.
Arif Habib Sec declined by Re. 0.54 to close at Rs 27.73 with 6.001 million shares. Pak PTA decreased by Re. 0.09 to close at Rs 2.91 with 4.913 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co closed at Rs 23.90, down by Re. 0.41 with 4.879 million shares.
OGDC lost Rs 1.49 to close at Rs 75.62 with 4.145 million shares. PTCL declined by Re. 0.12 to close at Rs 15.96 with 3.253 million shares. Attock Refinery surged by Rs 1.37 to close at Rs 126.15 with 3.083 million shares. MCB Bank increased by Re. 0.79 to close at Rs 147.81 with 3.071 million shares.
National Refinery and Dadex Eternit were the highest gainers and gained Rs 4.87 and Rs 3.76 to close at Rs 221.16 and Rs 78.99 respectively while Unilever Pak and Fazal Textile were the worst losers and lost Rs 34.00 and Rs 10.70 to close at Rs 1921.02 and Rs 361.30 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that dull selling activity was witnessed at the share market as the uncertainty loomed over the final outcome of the proposal to Finance Ministry by stock exchange brokers regarding imposition of Federal Excise Duty on brokerage. Fall in oil prices in the international markets, lack of institutional activity, high liquidity cost and non-availability of leverage products led to depressed activity. Investors preferred booking profits on continuing taxation issues on capital markets, he added.