Index loses 12.12 points

The KSE-100 index on Friday lost 12.12 points and closed at the level of 11,552.13 points due to profit taking during the late hours. The market opened on a strong positive note and the index hit 11,636.89 points intra-day high level, up 72.64 points. "However, the investors preferred to book profit ahead of monetary policy during the second session that forced the index into negative zone", analysts said.
Trading activities slightly improved, as the volumes at ready counter increased to 66.388 million shares, as compared to 62.660 million shares traded on Thursday. The overall market capitalisation declined by one billion rupees to stand at Rs 3.081 trillion. Out of the total 353 active scrips, 131 closed in positive and 127 in negative while the value of 95 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 12.195 million shares and gained Re 0.05 to close at Rs 15.98. Nishat (Chunian) inched up by Re 0.61 to close at Rs 28.51 with 4.264 million shares. Azgard Nine lost Re 0.12 to close at Rs 8.68 with 3.979 million shares. In the banking sector, NBP and BoP declined by Rs 1.09 and Re 0.16 to close at Rs 56.58 and Rs 6.41 with 3.018 million shares and 2.585 million shares, respectively while NIB Bank closed at the same level of Rs 2.02 with 2.305 million shares.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim inched up by Re 0.34 to close at Rs 40.03 with 2.817 million shares. Engro Corp increased by Re 0.71 to close at Rs 200.53 with 2.574 million shares. Fatima Fertiliser Co gained Re 0.29 to close at Rs 13.02 with 2.344 million shares. POL declined by Rs 2.24 to close at Rs 319.77 with 2.075 million shares.
Siemens Pak and Wyeth Pak were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 48.65 and Rs 40.00 to close at Rs 1074.75 and Rs 970.00, respectively while Pak Services and Pak Engineering were the worst losers declining by Rs 7.87 and Rs 6.64 to close at Rs 149.63 and Rs 126.22, respectively.
Samar Iqbal, Equity Dealer at Topline Securities said that the investors preferred to book profit ahead of monetary policy with low volumes activity remained confined to mid-cap stocks. He said that the blue chips failed to attract investors despite the fact that foreign inflow was witnessed on Thursday. With rising margins LOTPTA remained in the limelight sharing major portion of volumes followed by Nishat Chunian on the back of increase in international cotton prices, he added.