Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed fresh buying mainly in auto sector that supported the KSE-100 to close in positive at 46,689.73, up 55.74 points. Trading activity remained low due to investors'' lack of interest and daily trading volumes decreased to 179.672 million shares as compared to 229.381 million shares traded Friday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 26 billion to Rs 9.357 trillion. Out of total 385 active scrips, 190 closed in positive, 177 in negative while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 18.792 million shares. It gained Rs 2.02 to close at Rs 45.51 followed by Engro Polymer that lost Rs 0.13 to close at Rs 18.06 with 13.620 million shares. K-Electric closed at Rs 9.20, down Rs 0.05 with 11.139 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Philip Morris Pak were the top gainers with Rs 163.66 and Rs 124.66, respectively to close at Rs 4,717.20 and Rs 2,630.91. Bata Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers with Rs 81.79 and Rs 60.96 respectively, to close at Rs 4,700.00 and Rs 2,350.00.
An analyst at Global Securities said the market started off on a positive note after its 3 day bearish spell, gaining over 100 points soon after the opening bell and peaking at 46,899 points (+265 points). The market, however, succumbed to selling pressure soon after its peak likely due to profit taking, momentarily turning red before recovering and settling at 46,690 points (+56 points) by day''s end. The biggest contributor towards today''s gain was HUBC (1.66 percent) with a contribution of 31 points as the stock continued to gain investor''s interest over its planned coal-fired project, which is presently on the CPEC''s priority list. ISL (+5.00 percent) reached the upper-circuit and contributed 16 points on anticipation of strong earnings over significant recovery in international steel prices. The day''s laggards emerged as BAHL (-2.73 percent), HBL (-0.67 percent) and POL (-1.75 percent) with a cumulative erosion of 69 points.