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KARACHI: With a slight decrease in share prices, the stock market underwent a correction on Wednesday following an extended bull run.
Topline Securities Ltd said trading began on a positive note with rising share prices propelling the benchmark index beyond the 61,000-point mark for the first time.
However, selling pressure emerged within an hour and led to a reversal of the trend. The subsequent fall erased the earlier gains and took the index down to the negative territory for the rest of the session.
Trading remained unpredictable as the index showed significant volatility throughout the day.
Arif Habib Ltd said the KSE-100 index closed in the red following eight consecutive days of gains on the back of supply pressure. Habib Bank Ltd (-3.1 per cent), the Hub Power Company Ltd (-0.8pc) and Meezan Bank Ltd (-1.6pc) were major drags on the index.
As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 60,502.00 points after losing 228.26 points or 0.38pc from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume decreased 11.2pc to 692.2 million shares. The traded value increased 3.4pc to Rs27 billion on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included the Bank of Punjab Ltd (50m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (35.6m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (35.4m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (30.7m shares) and Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (23.5m shares).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs53.39), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs38.32), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs33.68), Atlas Honda Ltd (Rs24.23) and JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs23.95).
Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs300), Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs100), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs41.83), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs39) and Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs20.83).
Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $4.2m.