ISLAMABAD, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recorded second straight bullish session on Monday but the overall trade activities remained depressing as investors remained cautious amid uncertainty over the Panama case verdict.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE 100-Index gained 0.15 percent or 71.82 points to 48,227.75 points on Monday when compared with 48,155.93 points posted on Friday.
The KSE All-Share Index swelled by 0.13 percent or 42.58 points to 33,027.98 points, the KSE 30-Index increased by 0.16 percent or 39.88 points to 25,655.48 points, the KMI 30-Index grew by 0.11 percent or 93.65 points to 81,918.94 points, whereas the Islamic All-Share Index finished higher by 0.32 percent or 74.48 points at 23,022.08 points.
During Monday's trading session, the main index moved in a remote range of 263.09 points as it touched an intraday high of 48,384.02 points as against an intraday low of 48,120.93 points.
Auto sector witnessed some interest as Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR) and Indus Motor Company (INDU) gained in the range of 3.9 percent and 5 percent due to positive mentions in the local media.
A renewed interest was seen in Engro Foods (EFOODS) which elevated the stock by 2.8 percent. Similarly, steel manufacturers Aisha Steel Mills Limited (ASL) and Inter Steel Limited (ISL) gained 0.3 percent to 0.9 percent after increasing CRC prices by 1000 rupees per ton.
Market volumes depleted by 41.53 percent or 113.60 million shares to 159.93 million shares on Monday when compared with trading of 273.53 million shares recorded on Friday.
Market capitalization improved by 0.19 percent or 18.49 billion rupees (174.09 million U.S. dollars) to 9.613 trillion rupees whereas trade value decreased by 19.15 percent or 2.26 billion rupees to 9.55 billion rupees.
Among 380 active scrips on Monday, the prices of 229 issues declined, 137 advanced, whereas values of 14 other companies stayed unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mills Limited, Bank of Punjab, and Azgard Nine Limited were the top traded companies with turnovers of 15.89 million shares, 11.77 million shares, and 11.40 million shares, respectively.
Wyeth Pakistan Limited was the top price accumulator of the day with an increment of 120.92 rupees to close at 2,539.37 rupees while on the flip side Unilever Foods led the major price shedders with a decrement of 310.00 rupees to finish at 5,890.00 rupees. (1 U.S. dollar = 106.25 rupees)
