Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 29.076 million shares however lost Rs 0.71 to close at Rs 25.37 followed by Engro Polymer that closed at Rs 28.84, down Rs 0.16 with 21.734 million shares. TRG Pak declined by Rs 0.96 to close at Rs 56.81 with 15.675 million shares. Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 290.00 and Rs 185.98 respectively to close at Rs 6400.00 and Rs 9199.99 while Rafhan Maize and Ferozsons (Lab) were the top losers declining by Rs 164.58 and Rs 28.43 respectively to close at Rs 7035.42 and Rs 540.33.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that volatility prevailed in the market during the first half of the trading session as index continuously traded between the positive and negative zones. However pressure was witnessed in the market during the second half as the index lost around 181 points to close at 49,301 level (down 0.4 percent). CSAP in the steel sector lost value to close on its lower circuit as the company declared its result for nine months of FY17, in which it posted EPS of Rs 11.28 (down 8.35 percent). This result was accompanied by Rs 1.5/share cash payout taking the full year payout to Rs 3/share. HASCOL (up 2.59 percent) in the OMC sector garnered investor interest as the OMC posted EPS of Rs 3.12 for the first quarter of 2017, up 86 percent. This increase in earnings can be attributed to company''s continuous growth in its white oil segment (MS, HSD etc) NCL (down 3.19 percent) in the textile sector failed to create excitement, in spite of positing EPS of Rs 5.83 (83 percent higher).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017