Bearish trend was witnessed at Karachi share market on Monday due to investors concerns over Pak-US relations and security situation, and the KSE-100 index lost 65.23 points to close at the level of 11,902.12 points. "Strong valuations, foreign interest and recovery in global commodities failed to change investors'' sentiment and the market remained in the strong grip of uncertainties", analysts said.
After opening in negative, the index hit 11,884.93 points intra-day low level, down 82.42 points, and it remained in red throughout the session. Trading reduced drastically due to low participation mainly by local retail investors and the volume at ready counter declined to 44.895 million shares as compared to 56.643 million shares traded on the last trading session. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 18 billion to Rs 3.158 trillion.
Of 360 active scrips, 169 closed in negative and 77 in positive, while the values of 114 stocks remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 6.727 million shares and gained Re 0.06 to close at Rs 7.19. Lotte Pakistan PTA lost Re 0.36 to close at Rs 15.00 with 5.758 million shares. Azgard Nine decreased by Re 0.11 to close at Rs 5.77 with 5.309 million shares. DG Khan (R) declined by Re 0.94 to close at Rs 1.09 with 4.467 million shares. D G Khan Cement decreased by Re 0.85 to close at Rs 21.57 with 1.684 million shares.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim lost Re 0.44 to close at Rs 41.39 with 1.144 million shares while Fauji Fertiliser Co (FFC) gained Re 0.32 to close at Rs 143.01 with 0.911 million shares. JS Value Fund closed at the same level of Rs 6.00 with 1.019 million shares. NIB Bank lost Re 0.07 to close at Rs 1.61 with 0.947 million shares. Nishat Mills declined by Rs 1.15 to close at Rs 56.98 with 0.768 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Colgate Palmolive were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 27.67 and Rs 10.13 to close at Rs 883.39 and Rs 756.66 respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and Hinopak Motor were the worst losers declining by Rs 42.62 and Rs 3.90 to close at Rs 3511.01 and Rs 85.37 respectively. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that the market witnessed declining trend on investors'' concerns over Pak-US relations and prevailing security situation in the country.
"Strong valuations, foreign interest and recovery in global commodities failed to change investor sentiment", he said, adding that fall in Asian capital markets, uncertainty over SBP policy announcement this week, rising concerns for Pak-US relations, ongoing political debate on US raid on Pakistan soil on May 2 and security concerns in the city played a catalyst role in negative close at KSE.