Investors opted to book profit on available margins that forced Pakistan Stock Exchange to close in negative territory Thursday. BRIndex100 lost 33.6 points or 0.72 points to 4,665.14 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,717.37 and intraday low of 4,637.43 points. Volumes stood at 298.949 million shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 165.75 points or 0.69 percent to close at 24,029.53 points with a turnover of 224.498 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 235.47 points to 43,395.28 points. Daily trading volumes slightly decreased to 319.451 million shares as compared to 327.761 million shares traded Wednesday. Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $0.2 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 41 billion to Rs 9.004 trillion. Out of total 388 active scrips, 221 closed in negative, 153 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 20.584 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.07 to close at Rs 2.90 followed by Sui Southern Gas Company that increased by Rs 1.50 to close at Rs 35.38 with 19.408 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pak were the top gainers with Rs 269.00 and Rs 87.81, respectively to close at Rs 7,200.00 and Rs 1,844.16. Shield Corp and Shezan International were the top losers with Rs 23.72 and Rs 17.00, respectively to close at Rs 451.28 and Rs 481.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 33.62 points or 0.38 percent to close at 8,777.38 points with total turnover of 28.429 million shares. BR Cement Index closed at 5,646.92 points, down 2.23 points or 0.04 percent with 47.198 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 30.38 points or 0.57 percent to close at 5,270.96 points with 27.976 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 13.04 points or 1.12 percent to close at 1,181.57 points with 43.196 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 168.82 points or 2.57 percent to close at 6,398.21 points with 20.466 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index marginally opened positive but soon succumbed to pressure and closed down to 43,395 level, after making an intraday high of up 0.4 percent and a low of down 1.1 percent. Selling pressure was witnessed across the board as investors opted to book profits, while on the other hand things remained heated on the political front. Heavy participation was witnessed in KEL (down 3.61 percent) with more than 18 million share exchanging hands on the back of news that NEPRA is unlikely to revise the company''s multiyear tariff upward on the reconsideration request forwarded by the Ministry of Energy (Power Division).
E&P sector closed lower than its previous day close, where POL (down 1.26 percent), OGDC (down 0.93 percent) and PPL (down 0.62 percent) closed slightly below their previous day levels. Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the Cement sector where MLCF (up 1.43 percent) and FCCL (up 1.30 percent) closed in green whereas LUCK (down 0.78 percent) and DGKC (down 0.30 percent) closed in the red zone.