Index loses 23.78 points

Bearish activity was witnessed at Karachi stock market on Tuesday and KSE-100 index lost 23.78 points due to high selling pressure. The KSE-100 closed at 12,658.16 points from 12,681.94 points. The index hit 12,767.74 points intra-day high and 12,682.11points low. Trading volume at ready counter declined to 270.8 million shares as compared to 316.8 million shares traded on Monday.
Trading on futures counter also decreased as 10.25 million shares were traded against 13.78 million shares previously. Market capitalisation decreased by Rs 7.95 billion to Rs 3.422 trillion from Rs 3.43 trillion. Of 410 active scrips 155 closed in the positive and 246 in the negative, while the values of 9 shares remained unchanged.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim was the volume leader with 32.85 million shares and gained Re 0.98 to close at Rs 43.13. Lotte Pakistan PTA increased by Re 0.15 to close at Rs 15.64 with trading volume of 27.817 million shares. Azgard Nine lost Re 0.27 to close at Rs 11.38 with 22 million shares. Lafarge Pakistan increased by Re 0.03 to close at Rs 3.61 with volume of 15.799 million shares. With 14.37 million shares trading, Japan Power gained Re 0.12 to close at Rs 1.82.
Bank Al-Falah surged by Re. 0.07 to close at Rs 11.54 with 13.988 million shares. D G Khan Cement closed at Rs 30.60, losing Re 1.16 with 10.24 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Com gained Rs 5.30 to close at Rs 153.98 with 9.09 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co decreased by Re 0.57 to close at Rs 12.03 with 7.96 million shares trading. With volume of 6.32 million share trading, Arif Habib Corp closed at Rs 28.42 down by Rs 1.24.
Nestle Pakistan and Colgate Palmolive were the highest gainers and gained Rs 77.43 and Rs 40.18 to close at Rs 2,806.71 and Rs 1,008.17 respectively, while Indus Dyeing and Pak Engineering were the worst losers and lost Rs 9.07 and Rs 8.18 to close at Rs 188.01 and Rs 155.47 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that investors booked profits in overbought market and sold shares for profit taking. In addition, rising circular debt in Pakistan energy sector, and uncertainty over next SBP monetary policy announcement played a catalyst role in negative close at KSE despite foreigners' interest in blue chip scrips and institutional interest in fertilizer sector scrips on expectation of record earning announcements, he added.