The KSE-100 index on Thursday lost 29.43 points and closed at the level of 10,017.14 points. Although the market witnessed strong opening and the index hit 10,153.83 points intra-day high level, up 107.26 points on the back of expectation regarding early introduction of leverage product. However, the index dropped into negative zone at 10,008.13 points intra-day low level due to selling mainly by local investors.
Trading activities further shrank and the volumes at ready counter declined to 90.210 million shares as compared to 99.943 million shares traded on Wednesday. The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 14 billion to stand at Rs 2.783 trillion. Out of the total 369 active scrips, 172 closed in positive and 171 in negative while the value of 26 scrips remained unchanged.
Nishat Chunian Power was the volume leader with 9.250 million shares and gained Re 0.20 to close at Rs 10.45. Jahangir Siddiqui Co closed at Rs 10.64, down Re 0.01 with 8.091 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA inched up by Re 0.02 to close at Rs 8.56 with 5.694 million shares. Arif Habib Sec declined by Re 0.30 to close at Rs 25.21 with 5.452 million shares.
Nishat Power gained Re 0.02 to close at Rs 10.55 with 4.851 million shares. TRG Pakistan lost Re 0.04 to close at Rs 3.70 with 4.011 million shares. Azgard Nine increased by Re 0.31 to close at Rs 10.73 with 3.738 million shares. BoP gained Re 0.24 to close at Rs 8.78 with 3.733 million shares. DG Khan Cement lost Re 0.70 to close at Rs 25.23 with 3.638 million shares. Nishat Mills declined by Re 0.15 to close at Rs 46.62 with 2.738 million shares.
Siemens Pak and Fazal Textile were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 9.73 and Rs 8.33 to close at Rs 1131.83 and Rs 354.14 respectively while Wyeth Pak and Colgate Palmolive were the worst losers declining by Rs 25.00 and Rs 23.31 to close at Rs 899.35 and Rs 652.50 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that profit taking was witnessed in overbought market ahead of major earning announcements next week despite IMF board''s approval on $450 million emergency assistance for flood recovery and support of state run funds. He said that the SECP approval on Margin Trading System concept paper was taken positive by investors with some uncertainty over launch date and modalities.