Index loses 76.47 points

Despite foreign investors'' support and fresh inflow of $1.4 million, the KSE-100 index on Monday lost 76.47 points and closed at 11,964.68 points due to selling by local investors. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 12,106.04 points intra-day high level. However, the investors opted to offload their holdings and the index dropped into negative zone at 11,944.77 points intra-day low level.
Trading remained low and the volume at ready counter declined to 50.827 million shares as compared to 70.392 million shares traded on last trading session. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 22 billion to Rs 3.236 trillion.
Of 358 active scrips, 169 closed in negative and 101 in positive, while the values of 88 scrips remained unchanged. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 6.670 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.25 to close at Rs 15.74. PTCL gained Re 0.27 to close at Rs 19.00 with 5.831 million shares. Descon Oxychem declined by Re 0.63 to close at Rs 7.05 with 2.203 million shares.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim lost Re 0.03 to close at Rs 41.04 with 2.077 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Co (FFC) gained Re 0.63 to close at Rs 153.92 with 2.035 million shares. Nishat (Chunian) inched up by Re 0.39 to close at Rs 26.65 with 1.922 million shares. Nishat Mills lost Re 0.54 to close at Rs 62.30 with 1.689 million shares. SilkBank gained Re 0.07 to close at Rs 2.46 with 1.575 million shares while Askari Bank lost Re 1.00 to close at Rs 15.03 with 1.074 million shares. DG Khan Cement decreased by Re 0.17 to close at Rs 24.25 with 1.196 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Unilever Foods were the highest gainers, increasing by Rs 233.95 and Rs 14.78 to close at Rs 4913.03 and Rs 1323.66 respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and Colgate Palmolive were the worst losers, declining by Rs 93.20 and Rs 33.12 to close at Rs 3502.80 and Rs 863.01 respectively.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Co said that despite tactical low volume strength in select stocks that did allow the index a positive opening, across the board offloading, however, forced the index to suffer triple-digit loss. The strategy of restricting the index from going deeper in the red zone, however, came into play, despite extreme pressure in wider market, wherein various stocks witnessed low volume price erosion. Due to stagnation and redemption-led sell-off, squeeze in turnover amid gloomy short-term horizon seemingly kept chances of a landslide parked in foreign currency or opt for secure stocks offering consistent dividend yields despite all odds.