KSE index gains 16.49 points

KARACHI : The Karachi share market on Monday opened on a positive note and the KSE-100 index hit 9,147.45 points intra-day high. However, the momentum could not continue due to investors' cautious stance as they opted for profit taking ahead of Eid and the index closed with a meagre gain of 16.49 points at 9,075.26 points. Trading remained dull and the volume at ready counter declined to 144.495 million shares as compared to 192.758 million shares of previous Friday. Market capitalisation increased by Rs 4 billion to Rs 2.638 trillion. Out of 380 active stocks, 188 closed in negative and 179 in positive while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged. Bank Al Falah was market leader with 11.624 million shares and gained Re. 0.34 to close at Rs 12.94. BoP increased by Re. 1.00 to close at Rs 14.16 with 6.088 million shares. NBP lost Rs 0.65 to close at Rs 78.17 with 4.971 million shares. Pak PTA gained Re. 0.22 to close at Rs 5.24 with 11.025 million shares. Arif Habib Sec increased by Re. 0.34 to close at Rs 38.65 with 7.838 million shares. DG Khan Cement lost Re. 0.32 to close at Rs 35.03 with 6.687 million shares. OGDC gained Re. 0.50 to close at Rs 112.59 with 6.403 million shares. Nishat Mills surged by Rs 2.91 to close at Rs 61.29 with 6.211 million shares. Azgard Nine increased by Re. 0.28 to close at Rs 27.51 with 5.353 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co closed at Rs 27.48, down Re. 0.66 with 5.250 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pak were the highest gainers and gained Rs 65.00 and Rs 57.11 to close at Rs 1535.00 and Rs 57.11 respectively while Pak Services and Millat Tractors were the worst losers and lost Rs 11.75 and Rs 10.18 to close at Rs 223.39 nad Rs 309.71 respectively. Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that positive activity was witnessed as OGDC and PPL invited investors' interest on Nashpa discovery. Second-tier banks remained in limelight on strong valuations. Limited foreign interest and positive valuations on Nishat Group scrips played a catalyst role in positive activity at KSE. Salman Naqvi at Aba Ali Habib Securities said that investors took cautious stance ahead Eid. The absence of a leverage product also discouraged the investors to take fresh position, which affected the trading activity at the local bourse. Foreign investors' activity also remained low, which invited profit taking in late hours and minimised the index's intra-day gains. sorce:-aaj tv.com