RECORDER REPORT: KSE close of day

KARACHI: Late buying mainly by foreign investors in some selective stocks in oil, cement and fertilizer sectors on Monday supported the KSE-100 index to minimize its intra-day losses and the index closed 13,770.71 points down 28.72 points.

The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $3.26 million.

The market opened on positive note and the index hit 13,822.94 points intra-day high level. However, positive trend could not continue due to selling pressure mainly in banking sector stocks and the index dropped in negative at 13,571.81 points intra-day low level.

Trading activities remained low as the volumes at ready counter declined to 261.021 million shares as compared to 380.025 million shares traded on last trading session. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 6 billion to stand at Rs 3.531 trillion. Of the total 360 active stocks, 143 closed in negative and 141 in positive while the value of 76 stocks remained unchanged.  

Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 28.789 million shares, however lost Re 0.98 to close at Rs 17.79.

In cement sector, Fauji Cement, DG Khan Cement and Lafarge Pakistan increased by Re 0.61, Rs 1.88 and Re 0.33 to close at Rs 6.76, Rs 40.30 and Rs 5.24 with 25.499 million shares, 16.738 million shares and 14.376 million shares respectively while Dewan Cement declined by Re 0.19 to close at Rs 6.27 with 19.506 million shares.

PTCL lost Re 0.12 to close at Rs 12.96 with 10.680 million shares. Azgard Nine inched up by Re 0.09 to close at Rs 8.49 with 10.610 million shares.

Arif Habib Co surged by Rs 1.58 to close at Rs 34.33 with 8.255 million shares. NIB Bank decreased by Re 0.11 to close at Rs 2.56 with 8.038 million shares. Engro Polymer gained Re 0.57 to close at Rs 12.68 with 7.737 million shares.

Unilever Pak and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers increasing by 48.76 and Rs 35.60 to close at Rs 5873.33 and Rs 790.60 respectively while Nestle Pak and Bata (Pak) Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 74.11 and Rs 13.74 to close at Rs 4281.97 and Rs 620.42 respectively.