Thursday saw the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) shedding some 32.13 points or 0.28 per cent to close at, what the analysts described it, intraday lows of 11,515.59 points. “(The) stocks closed lower amid higher activity on institutional profit-taking in overbought stocks,” viewed Ahsan Mehanti, a senior analyst and director at Arif Habib Investments. On the previous day, Wednesday, the benchmark, 100-share index, closed at 11,547.72 points.
According to market observers, the politico-economic factors impacted the market sentiments Thursday seeing the index hitting the intraday high and low of 11,652.74 points and 11,502.34, respectively.
“Index closed on its intraday lows despite strong recovery in global stocks and commodities on IMF lending plans to support Europe debt concerns,” said Mehanti. The investors booked profits in blue-chip stocks following five sessions of bullish close, after a bi-monthly policy announcement by the central bank was delayed up to the 11th of next month and the Supreme Court adjourned hearing of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani on the NRO implementation case to Feb 1st, he added. The turnover at the ready-counter for traded shares, however, remained in the green zone and closed higher at 92.473 million shares against 83.732 million shares of the preceding session. The trading value set in the negative side and dropped to Rs3.53 billion from the previous day’s Rs4.06 billion. The market capitalisation finished almost flat at Rs2.99 trillion compared to Wednesday’s Rs2.99 trillion. The companies’ position remained a bit stable as of the total 322 traded scrips, 123 gained, 113 lost and 86 remained unchanged.
The KSE-30 index also lost 40.28 points and closed at 10,600.95 points against the previous 10,641.23 points. Jahangir Siddiqui Company appeared as volume leader of the day counting 15.809 million of its shares traded with the opening and closing rates standing respectively at Rs4.45 and Rs5.16. Other scrips that traded well include lafrage pakistan, azgard nine, DG Khan Cement, Fatima Fertiliser Company, National Bank of Pakistan, Lotte Pak-PTA, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, Attock refinery and Engro corporation whose traded shares numbered, respectively, 7.8 million, 5.9 million, 5.5 million, 5.4 million, 5.1 million, 4.4 million, 4.3 million, 3.0 million and 2.9 million shares.
The future market also staged an upset with the share trading turnover upping to 10.609 million from Friday’s 9.19 million.
