KARACHI - Led by heavyweight oil stocks, the benchmark KSE 100-share index declined by 2 per cent on Wednesday. Investors sold shares amid fears that declining stock markets of Asia may affect local equities also.
At local equity market, the KSE 100-index shed 471.96 points or 2.01 percent to close the day at 23,015.27 points as compared to 23487.23 points of the last working day.
Pakistan Petroleum and Fauji Cement announced their June-end disappointed earnings however it accompanied better than expected payout. PPL lost more than Rs.8 at close while Fauji Cement also closed in negative with a hefty volume of 51m shares, a dealer observed.  KSE allshare-index went down by 293.83 points or 1.75 percent to finish the day at 16511.12 points, KSE 30-share index decreased by 420.32 points or 2.30 percent to conclude the day’s trading at 17874.88 points while KMI 30-share index shed 924.88 points or 2.28 percent to stop the day at 39626 points.  An analyst said stocks closed bearish amid institutional profit-taking in stocks across the board post major earning announcements at KSE on growing fears for possible hike in policy rate next week after higher CPI inflation data. Limited foreign interest and rising political uncertainty ahead of by-elections played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments at KSE despite strong earning outlook.
Consolidation continued in blue chip stocks during earning announcement session amid concerns for rising economic uncertainty, higher government debt and falling global commodities, he added. Market traded 252.124 million shares on Wednesday after opening at 182.675 million shares and the value of traded shares jumped to Rs 10.668 billion from Rs 8.612 billion. The capitalization of the local equity maintained at Rs 5.684 trillion as compared to Rs 5.786 trillion of a day earlier. Trading took place in 354 companies where 247 closed in negative and 86 in positive while the values of 21 stocks remained intact. Siemens Pakistan and Calariant Pak were the top price losers of the day, down by Rs 54.73 to Rs 1047 and Rs 15.61 to Rs 296.76. Upward trend was led by Wyeth Pak Limited and Indus Dyeing, increased by Rs 31.40 to Rs 2431.40 and Rs 17 to Rs 797.
Fauji Cement was the top traded company of the day with 51.887 million shares as it closed at Rs 14.68 after opening at Rs 14.71. BOP was on the second position with 18.417 millions shares, off by Re 0.54 to Rs 12.51. It was followed by Lafarge Pakistan with 13.511 million, National Bank with 9.968 million, NIB Bank with 8.770 million, Maple Leaf Cement with 7.606 million, JS Co with 5.903 million, Lailpur Power Limit with 5.598 million, Sui South Gas with 5.594 million and Hub Power Co with 4.741 million shares.