KARACHI- Profit taking was witnessed at PSX in the trading hours to follow, which led the KSE-100 index to close at yet another historical high of 40,057.52 points, showing an increase of 7 points.

Index opened on a positive note and rallied to make an intraday high of 155 points, however, came under selling pressure during the latter hours as the index fell to close on a flat note.

Index lost major portion of its intraday gain to MCB (slump 2.21 percent) and HUBC (down 0.21 percent), as they both fell to close in the red zone. ATRL extended its previous day gain to close on its upper circuit. This gain was on the back of better than expected consolidated earnings declared by the company yesterday, as it booked a one time reversal in impairment in investment in its associated companies that it booked last year, stated analyst Nabeel Haroon at JS Global.

Trading volumes declined slightly by 0.6 percent to 239mn shares, however, value witnessed rise of 16 percent to Rs15.4bn/US$146mn.

K-Electric (KEL), Pak Electron (PAEL) and Pakcem (PAKCEM) led the volumes for today’s trading session, with 17.4mn shares, 13.1mn shares and 10.2mn shares traded, respectively. 

MCB Bank (MCB) fell by 2.3 percent to Rs208.8 amid rumors of heavy foreign selling. Healthy volume of 5.6mn shares was seen in the ready market for MCB. Other stocks that closed in the green include; PAEL, which rose by 1.1 percent to Rs74.64 on expectation of better results, Pakistan Suzuki Motors Corporation (PSMC) and Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR), which rose 4.5 percent and 3 percent, respectively, said dealers at Topline brokerage.

Brokers expect the market continues to consolidate at current levels.