KARACHI -Karachi market shed another 158 points amid mixed corporate announcements, investors preferred to book profit.
Benchmark closed at 28691.62 level compared to 28850.08 points of the last working day on Friday.
Equity dealers said lack of interest was also evident by 34pc dropping volumes of Rs.5.9b. Oil, banking and cement stocks witnessed selling pressure. Investors also trimmed PSO holding in anticipation of lower than anticipated earnings announcements due tomorrow. On the contrary renewed buying interest in IPPs was seen as HUBC, PKGP, LPL closed at their upper limit.
KSE-Allshare off by 123.81 points or 0.57 percent to stop the trading at 21410.30 points, KSE-30 index down by 102.68 points or 0.51 percent to conclude the session at 20026.31 points while KMI-30 index misplaced 136.95 points or 0.30 percent to finish the day at 45774.26 points.
Total 347 companies exchange their hands on Monday where 219 closed in negative and 114 in positive while the value of 14 stocks not changed. Highest increased reflected in the price of Unilever FoodsXD up by Rs 300 to Rs 8900 followed by Nestle Pak .XD added Rs 150 to Rs 8050. Wyeth Pak Ltd and Sanofi-Aventis XD were the top losers of the day decreased by Rs 50 to Rs 3950 and Rs 44.50 to Rs 855.50.  Market experts said stocks fell sharply amid thin trade on concerns for rising political uncertainty and security unrest in the city.
Concerns for circular debt issue in energy sector, export losses in textile, cement sectors played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments post major quarter end earning announcements at KSE. Speculations in key energy sector stocks ahead of corporate earnings announcements this week supported the index to close above session lows, he added.
The day turnover was 181.404 million shares after opening at 198.702 million shares and the value of traded shares fell to Rs 5.966 billion from Rs 8.995 billion. The capitalisation of the market maintained at Rs 6.860 trillion compared to Rs 6.900 trillion of the last session.
Active list was topped Maple Leaf Cement with 38.219 million shares up by Re 0.12 to Rs 30.12. Pervez Ahmed was the second highest at the volume chart with 17.899 million shares grew by Re 0.31 to Rs 5.91. It was followed by Lalpir Power XD with 10.278 million shares without any changed settled at Rs 19.01, JS Co with 9.573 million shares off by Re 0.05 to Rs 11.15 and NIB Bank Limited with 6.822 million shares marginally shed by Re 0.01 to Rs 2.47.