Profit-taking sinks bullish KSE on final day

Investors at Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) opted for taking an exit in final trading session of the week on Friday owing to rising political temperature which forced the main index to end below 15,700 levels while volume numbers also remained on the lower side. The benchmark KSE 100-Index plunged by 0.95 percent or 151.09 points to close at 15,694.21 levels on Friday as against close of 15,845.30 levels it recorded on Thursday. During the week that ended on Oct. 12, the KSE 100-Index declined by 60.18 points despite of three out of five trading sessions ending in green zone. The KSE 100-Index declined by 102.38 points on Monday to close at 15,652.01 levels, swelled by 36.23 points to end at 15,688.24 levels on Tuesday, gained 65.58 points to conclude at 15,753.82 levels on Wednesday, increased by 91.48 points to close at 15,845. 30 levels, before massive fall of 151.09 points to finish the day and week at 15,694.21 levels on Friday. The KSE All Share Index shed 0.89 percent or 99.13 points to end at 11,074.54 levels, the KSE 30-Index slumped by 1.23 percent or 160.51 points to conclude at 12,903.38 levels, whereas the KMI 30-Index declined by 1.03 percent or 286.3 points to finish the day and week at 27,624.22 levels here. The Karachi Stock Exchange started the final trading session of the week on mild bullish note where the main index breached the psychological 15,900 levels during initial trade for the first time ever in its history. Soon, the main index achieved its all-time intraday highest level of 15,981.35 and came quite close to hit the illustrious 16, 000 levels but profit-selling at higher levels put brakes on the bullish charge and the key index entered the Friday's prayers break with a 25-point increment at 15,870.2 levels. The bearish trends continued after the prayers break and the key index nosedived into the red ink where towards the end of the trading session it hit the lowest level of the day of 15,685.56 before closing just a shade higher below 15,700 levels. Market volumes improved by 6.221 million shares to 113.123 million shares on Friday as against trading of 106.902 million shares recorded on Thursday as investors opted for taking an exit on last day of the week. During the week that ended on Friday, the Karachi Stock Exchange registered total volumes of 582.757 million shares at average daily turnovers of 116.551 million shares. The KSE reported volumes of 118.935 million shares on Monday, 110.962 million shares on Tuesday, 132.835 million shares on Wednesday, 106.902 million shares on Thursday, and 113.123 million shares on Friday. Market capitalization reduced by 40.1208 billion rupees (422. 324 million U.S. dollars) to 3.945 trillion rupees (41.53 billion dollars) on Friday when compared with market capitalization worth 3.985 trillion rupees (41.95 billion dollars) recorded the other day. As per the figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) for Thursday, the foreign investors came up with net buying of 329.870 million rupees (3.472 million dollars). During the first four trading sessions of the week under review, the foreign investors did net buying worth 801.977 million rupees (8.441 million dollars). The offshorers did net buying of 6.848 million rupees (72,090 dollars) on Monday, net buying worth 609.220 million rupees (6.412 million dollars) on Tuesday, net selling worth 143.961 million rupees (1.515 million dollars) on Wednesday, and net buying of 329. 870 million rupees (3.472 million dollars) on Thursday. In broader market, a total of 327 companies traded hands during the course of trading of Friday where prices of 192 issues ended in red column, 116 managed to close in green numbers, while values of 19 other scrips stayed unchanged at Thursday's levels. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited continued leading the listed companies on index of top traded companies on Friday as it recorded volumes of 15.633 million shares. PTCL was followed by Telecard Limited, Bank Al-Falah Limited, Karachi Electric Supply Company, and Dera Ghazi Khan Cement SPOT with turnovers of 5.211 million shares, 4.257 million shares, 3.924 million shares, and 3. 800 million shares respectively. Colgate Palmolive emerged as the top price gainer of the day with increment of 67.72 rupees (71.28 U.S. cents) per share to close at 1,422.22 rupees (14.97 dollars) while on the other hand UniLever Pakistan led the major price decliners with drop of 213. 33 rupees (2.24 dollars) per scrip to finish the day and week at 9, 536.67 rupees (100.386 dollars).