KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday closed on a negative note as investors opted to book profit on available margins. BRIndex100 lost 18.05 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,836.37 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,872.14 and intraday low of 4,829.04 points. Total volumes stood at 481.036 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 59.35 points or 0.24 percent to close at 24,445.16 points with total daily turnover of 344.677 million shares. The KSE-100 Index declined by 204.32 points or 0.44 percent and closed at 45,726.68 points. Daily trading volumes on the ready counter slightly increased to 543.645 million shares as compared to 531.065 million shares traded on previous session. Foreign investors emerged net buyers of shares worth $4.734 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 44 billion to Rs 8.263 trillion. Out of total 427 active scrips, 245 closed in negative and 163 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

TRG was the volume leader with 47.593 million shares and increased by Rs 6.98 to close at Rs 103.49 followed by Fauji Foods that gained Rs 1.19 to close at Rs 19.11 with 44.616 million shares. Rafhan Maize and AKD Capital were the top gainers increasing by Rs 99.00 and Rs 30.78 respectively to close at Rs 9600.00 and Rs 441.31 while Nestle Pakistan and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 158.80 and Rs 62.77 respectively to close at Rs 6455.01 and Rs 1437.23.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 27.19 points or 0.32 percent to close at 8,602.44 points with a total turnover of 2.449 million shares. BR Cement Index decreased by 44.45 points or 0.71 percent to close at 6,239.94 with 23.260 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 19.13 points or 0.2 percent to close at 9,518.57 points with 55.135 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 23.17 points or 0.41 percent to close at 5,693.63 points with 61.701 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 86.03 points or 2.01 percent to close at 4,195.89 points with 16.365 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 76.81 points or 2.64 percent to close at 2,989.33 points with 106.985 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index closed in the negative zone at 45,726, making a high and a low of plus 116 and down 217 points respectively, 204 points lower than the previous closing. The KSE-100 Index had a jittery ride after remaining sideways at the start of the session. However, in the latter half profit taking was witnessed from institutions. Textiles remained in the limelight where NCL (up 6.3 percent) closed near upper circuit as Pakistan exports of textiles have witnessed an increase of 7.7 percent in the lead of knitted garments and hosiery during the first half of the current fiscal year of 2021 as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Furthermore, in one of the news reports it was mentioned that the circular debt of the country officially projected to cross the Rs 2.8 trillion mark by June 30. On the oil front, crude oil prices weakened in the international market on the wake of rising corona cases amidst weak Chinese economic data. PPL (down 2.8 percent), OGDC (down 2.4 percent) and POL (down 2.2 percent) closed in the negative zone.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021