Roundup: Pakistan's KSE stays bearish ahead of Christmas weekend

Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) recorded the fourth straight bearish trading session on Wednesday as foreign investors remained inactive ahead of the Christmas weekend while local investors decided to sell their positions with a long weekend in the mind.

The market will close down for Dec. 24 and 25 on account of Eid Milad-un-Nabi and Quaid-e-Azam Day/Christmas Day, the KSE authorities said in a statement.

The benchmark KSE 100-Index declined by 0.43 percent or 140.34 points to 32,500.75 points on Wednesday from Tuesday's 32,641.09. During the shortened three-day week that ended Wednesday, the main index lost 276.29 points with bulls failing to find a place in the mind of market participants.

The key index has given away 608.79 points during the four-day bearish spell.

The KSE All Share Index fell by 0.46 percent or 104.61 points to 22,586.95, the KSE 30-Index slipped by 0.36 percent or 69.42 points to 19,101.84, the KMI 30-Index dropped 0.83 percent or 455.72 points, whereas the Islamic All Share Index skidded lower by 0.43 percent or 66.73 points to 15,323.91.

During Wednesday's trading session, the key index moved in a narrow range of 216.52 points as it touched an intraday high of 32,706.10 points, against an intraday low of 32,489.58.

Market volumes improved by 33.02 percent or 25.942 million shares to 104.503 million shares on Wednesday, compared with Tuesday's 78.561 million shares. During the three-day week, the top Pakistani bourse recorded total volumes of 273.99 million shares at average daily turnovers of 91.33 million shares.

Market capitalization reduced by 0.45 percent or 31.213 billion rupees (306.014 million U.S. dollars) to 6.841 trillion rupees (67.075 billion dollars) while trade value swelled by 17.70 percent or 1.038 billion rupees (10.183 million dollars) to 6.906 billion rupees (67.714 million dollars).

Among 335 active scrips on Wednesday, prices of 196 issues depleted, 119 managed to stay bullish, whereas values of 20 other companies stayed unchanged.

Jahangir Siddiqui Company Limited, Habib Bank Limited, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited were the top traded companies with turnovers of 10.106 million shares, 5.858 million shares, and 5.548 million shares, respectively.

Rafhan Maize was the top price gainer with increment of 399.99 rupees (3.92 dollars) to 8,899.99 rupees (87.25 dollars) while on the flip side Colgate Palmolive led the major price shedders with decrement of 74 rupees (72.55 cents) to 1,426 rupees (13.98 dollars). Enditem