The prevailing political uncertainty over NRO issue and security concerns kept the investors totally on the sidelines on Monday as trading volumes at ready counter drastically declined to 23-week low at 8,992.92 points. Although the market opened on a positive note, and the KSE-100 index hit 9,045.86 points intra-day high, up 36.73 points, the momentum could not continue due to investors' concerns.
After moving up and down between positive and negative, the index closed at 8,992.92 points, with a loss of 16.21 points. The local investors remained very cautious and avoided to take fresh position. On the other hand, the foreign investors' activity also remained very low with a net buying of only $612,708.
The volume at ready counter declined to more than five months low of 72.763 million shares as compared to 103.799 million shares traded on Friday. The current volume was 63 percent lower than last three months' average. Trading was witnessed mainly in second- and third-tier stocks, while very thin transaction was seen in the main board stocks.
Market capitalisation declined by Rs 6 billion to Rs 2.603 trillion. Of 396 active stocks, 202 closed in negative and 164 in positive, while the value of 30 scrips remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was overall volume leader with 5.785 million shares and gained Re. 0.44 to close at Rs 30.25. JS Large Cap Fund increased by Re. 0.22 to close at Rs 5.10 with 5.732 million shares. Pak PTA closed at Rs 7.35, down Re. 0.01 with 3.947 million shares.
Silkbank lost Re. 0.02 to close at Rs 5.96 with 3.217 million shares. JOV&Co closed at Rs 11.11, down Re. 0.01 with 3.177 million shares. Nishat Mills gained Re. 0.62 to close at Rs 65.85 with 3.088 million shares. Kohinoor Ind increased by Re. 0.84 to close at Rs 3.09 with 2.603 million shares.
Dewan Salman closed at Rs 1.75, down Re. 0.01 with 2.491 million shares. Pervez Ahmed declined by Re. 0.32 to close at Rs 5.18 with 2.478 million shares. Arif Habib Sec lost Re. 0.19 to close at Rs 46.79 with 2.192 million shares.
Unilever Food and Pak Engineering were the highest gainers and increased by Rs 63.25 and Rs 14.41 to close at Rs 1380.00 and Rs 307.50 respectively, while Fazal Textile and Hinopak Motor were the worst losers and declined by Rs 9.01 and Rs 8.52 to close at Rs 388.99 and Rs 217.14 respectively.
Furqan Punjani, analyst at Topline Securities, said that as anticipated political uncertainty over NRO issue dominated the investor sentiment which was further trampled by two blasts in Peshawar and Quetta. He said that the market remained lacklustre as volumes were 23-week low. Moreover, year-end perception also restricted institutions to take fresh positions.