Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a bearish trend on the first day of the week due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 18.39 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,371.11 points on Monday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,390.04 and intraday low of 4,332.35 points. Volumes stood at 101.468 million shares.
BRIndex30 index closed at 21,851.54 points, up 11.78 points or 0.05 percent with a turnover of 77.362 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 170.72 points or 0.42 percent to close at 40,684.05 points. Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 112.552 million shares as compared to 120.864 million shares traded last Friday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.7 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 58 billion to Rs 8.429 trillion. Out of the total 357 active scrips, 206 closed in negative, 133 in positive while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 9.656 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.74 to close at Rs 39.23 followed by Fauji Foods that gained Re 0.74 to close at Rs 34.13 with 7.168 million shares.
Murree Brewery and Bata Pak were the top gainers increasing by Rs 29.51 and Rs 17.20, respectively to close at Rs 766.18 and Rs 1,820.00. Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top losers with Rs 374.47 and Rs 200.00, respectively to close at Rs 7,124.53 and Rs 7,600.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 83.22 points or 0.96 percent to close at 8,559.86 points with total turnover of 8.802 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 15.67 points or 0.35 percent to close at 4,483.10 points with 12.681 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 26.38 points or 0.51 percent to close at 5,157.15 points with 3.467 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 11.96 points or 1.01 percent to close at 1,192.45 points with 8.715.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 5,706.75 points, down 51.54 points or 0.9 percent with 4.797 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said the market kicked off the day on a positive note, reaching an intraday high of plus 73 points. However, as the day progressed, the index came under pressure, making an intraday low of minus 0486 points, closing down 171 points at 40,684 level.
Recovery was witnessed in the second half as investors took the opportunity to accumulate stocks on attractive valuations after the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) decided against immediate hike in gas prices, leaving the final decision to the Prime Minister.
Banks led the decline at the local bourse where the big 5 banks contributed minus 92 points to the index. Among major banks, HBL (down 2.50 percent), ABL (down 2.30 percent), MCB (down 0.80 percent), NBP (down 0.53 percent) and UBL (down 0.49 percent) were the major losers. Fertilizer sector saw some daylight, where FATIMA (up 3.66 percent) closed at upper circuit and FFC (up 0.94 percent) closed above its previous day close.