Index down 11.86 points

The KSE-100 index on Friday lost 11.86 points to close at 12,484.17 points due to profit taking in late hours, with an extremely low volume. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 12,552.78 points intra-day high level. This momentum could not continue due to profit taking in late hours that forced the index into negative at 12,464.44 points intra-day low level.
Trading remained extremely low and the volume at ready counter declined to 34.689 million shares as compared to 65.925 million shares traded on Thursday. Market capitalisation reduced by Rs 3 billion to Rs 3.285 trillion. Of 304 active scrips, 115 closed in positive and 96 in negative, while the values of 993 stocks remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 5.449 million shares and gained Re 0.39 to close at Rs 6.87. Fatima Fertilizer Co lost Re 0.06 to close at Rs 16.58 with 3.733 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA declined by Re 0.30 to close at Rs 13.53 with 3.276 million shares.
Azgard Nine inched up by Re 0.21 to close at Rs 5.73 with 2.917 million shares. BoP, Bank Al Falah and Askari Bank gained Re 0.16, Re 0.06 and Re 0.09 to close at Rs 6.00, Rs 9.63 and Rs 10.97 with 1.980 million shares, 1.270 million shares and 1.242 million shares respectively. TRG Pakistan inched up by Re 0.14 to close at Rs 2.70 with 1.254 million shares. Engro Corp declined by Rs 1.53 to close at Rs 161.72 with 1.018 million shares. Wateen Telecom lost Re 0.07 to close at Rs 2.01 with 0.769 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the highest gainers, increasing by Rs 51.21 and Rs 39.91 to close at Rs 2675.78 and Rs 5515.00 respectively, while Indus Dyeing and Al-Ghazi Tractors were the worst losers declining by Rs 9.73 and Rs 6.48 to close at Rs 371.74 and Rs 223.92 respectively. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that mixed trend was witnessed at KSE with slight investor interest in blue chip scrips on strong valuations in Fertilizer, banking and cement sectors. He said that uncertainty in global capital markets, limited institutional and foreign interest on cautious note ahead of year earning announcements played catalyst role in bearish trend at KSE.