Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed a mixed trend as the investors opted to book profit on available margins. BRIndex100 closed at 4,488.78 points, down 2.78 points, or 0.6 percent. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,544.59 and intraday low of 4,459.43 points. Volumes stood at 118.513 million shares.
BRIndex30 gained 43.95 points or 0.2 percent to close at 22,464.05 points with total turnover of 79.034 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 64.49 points to close at 42,138.58 points. Daily trading volumes increased to 139.341 million shares as compared to 109.677 million shares traded Friday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $8.4 million. The market capitalization increased by Rs 31 billion to Rs 8.762 trillion. Out of total 343 active scrips, 193 closed in positive, 128 in negative while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.
Pakistan Elektron was the volume leader with 16.129 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.55 to close at Rs 35.88 followed by TRG Pak that gained Re 0.69 to close at Rs 26.42 with 9.352 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 398.00 and Rs 331.00, respectively to close at Rs 8,398.00 and Rs 8,699.00. Bata Pak and Wyeth Pak were the top losers with Rs 46.33 and Rs 20.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,003.67 and Rs 1,460.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 8.4 points or 0.1 percent to close at 8,512.75 points with total turnover of 13.967 million shares. BR Cement Index decreased by 24.32 points or 0.48 points to close at 5,061.39 points with 13.567 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 38.92 points or 0.73 percent to close at 5,285.94 points with 11.200 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 10.06 points or 0.93 percent to close at 1,093.00 points with 13.327 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,221.58 points, up 24.72 points or 0.4 percent with 5.935 million.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the market remained negative during the first half of the day making an intraday low of minus 202 points, however recovery was seen during the second half as the index made an intraday high of plus 469 points, to eventually close 64 points up at 42,138 level. This recovery came after the former Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk was announced as the Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. Investors' interest was witnessed in the banking space as SBP in its May-2018 Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) made an increase in the Policy Rate by 50bps to 6.50 percent for the next two months. UBL (down 0.39 percent), MCB (down 0.7 percent), HBL (down 0.05 percent) and NBP (down 1.95 percent) cumulatively contributed minus 29 points to the index. E&P sector lost value to close in the red as crude oil prices fell to trade at $66.71 /bbl in the international market. OGDC (down 2.02 percent), POL (down 1.11 percent) and PPL (down 1.11 percent) were the major loser of the mentioned sector. Negative sentiments were witnessed in the cement sector where MLCF (down 2.30 percent), DGKC (down 1.45 percent) and CHCC (down 0.70 percent) lost value to close in the red trajectory.