KSE sheds 0.22 pct after hitting 17,000-mark

Equities at Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) achieved an all-time intraday high above the historic 17,000 levels on Monday but profit-taking clipped wings of the high-flying bulls towards the end of the session as investors' participation depicted better numbers. The benchmark KSE 100-Index shed 0.22 percent or 37.86 points but managed to keep the psychological 16,900 levels as it ended trading at 16,905.33 levels on Monday as against close of 16,943. 19 levels recorded on Friday as Pakistan International Airlines, TRG Pakistan Limited, Jahangir Siddiqui Company Limited, and Azgard Nine Limited empowered bears to make their way back into contention. The KSE All Share Index dipped by 0.34 percent or 41.05 points to end at 11,964.24 levels as against Friday's levels of 12,005.29, the KSE 30-Index dropped 0.23 percent or 31.56 points to conclude at 13,764 levels on Monday as against Friday's 13,795.56 levels, whereas the KMI 30-Index fell by 0.36 percent or 105.47 points to finish the inaugural day of the week at 29,125.55 levels on Monday when compared with 29,213.02 levels recorded in final trading session of the previous week. The Karachi Stock Exchange showed promise in the early hours of trading which helped the main index to storm past the historic 17, 000 levels at round halfway stage and soon it hit the highest-ever intraday levels of 17,031.84. The last time the key index had smacked an all-time intraday high was on Dec. 21, 2012 when it touched 16,967.82 levels during intraday trade. However, some profit-taking took the strength out of the bulls above 17,000 levels and it came below the historic levels and entered the red terrain in the second half where minutes before the closing bells the key index was recorded languishing at the lowest level of the day of 16,889.96 before managing to close the session above 16,900 levels. Market analysts are of the view that most of the stocks ended in red territory on first trading day of the fresh week as some scrips performed well owing to some specific news in their respective sectors. They stated that despite of the fact that Byco Petroleum (53 paisas), Bank of Punjab (1 rupees), NIB Bank Limited (11 paisas), Maple Leaf Cement (3 paisas), and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (24 paisas) ended in green zone, profit-selling in Fauji Cement (-5 paisas), Lotte Pakistan PTA Limited (-8 paisas), Karachi Electric Supply Company (-18 paisas), and Engro Foods Limited (-76 paisas) hurt the market sentiments. Samar Iqbal, equity dealer at Topline Securities, informed Xinhua, "Though the market crossed 17,000 points mark for the first time, it closed below the psychological level." "Bank of Punjab remained in the limelight after news of recovery of funds," she mentioned. Talking about the market turnovers, Samar Iqbal viewed, " Volumes also showed some signs of improvement as year-end factor seemed to fade out and all in all market gained 49 percent in the calendar year ending Monday mainly because of substantial decrease in interest rates." Market volumes improved by 23.213 million shares to 177.671 million shares on Monday as against trading of 154.458 million shares recorded on final trading day of the previous week. Market capitalization declined by 14.554 billion rupees (148. 512 million U.S. dollars) to 4.242 trillion rupees (43.288 billion U.S. dollars) on Monday when compared with market capitalization worth 4.256 trillion rupees (43.437 billion U.S. dollars) reported the other day. The Karachi Stock Exchange's trading value got better by 783. 049 million rupees (7.990 million U.S. dollars) to 4.438 billion rupees (45.292 million US dollars) on Monday as compared with Friday's trading value worth 3.655 billion rupees (37.302 million U.S. dollars). As per the figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), the foreign investors came up with net selling of 418.380 million rupees (4.269 million U.S. dollars) on Friday to take December's net selling tally to 851.295 million rupees (8.780 million U.S. dollars). In broader market, a total of 350 companies changed hands during the course of trading on Monday where prices of 184 issues nosedived into the red ink, 141 managed to close in green zone, whereas values of 25 other scrips stayed stable at Friday's levels. Byco Petroleum was the top traded company of the day with trading of 16.316 million shares in its scrip, followed by Bank of Punjab, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Maple Leaf Cement, NIB Bank Limited, Pakistan International Airlines, TRG Pakistan Limited, Jahangir Siddiqui Company Limited, Azgard Nine Limited, and Dewan Cement with turnovers of 12.534 million shares, 11.980 million shares, 10.951 million shares, 10.806 million shares, 7.745 million shares, 6.671 million shares, 5.229 million shares, 5.226 million shares, and 4.711 million shares, respectively. Unilever Food was the top price gainer of the day as its per share price augmented by 100 rupees (1.02 U.S. dollars) to close at 4,300 rupees (43.877 U.S. dollars) while on the other hand UniLever Pakistan led the major price shedders after losing 400 rupees (4.08 U.S. dollars) a share to finish the day at 10,100 rupees (103.06 U.S. dollars).