KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE-100 Index witnessed some profit-taking on Monday and closed day below 82,000 after losing 224 points.

KSE-100 Index started session with some buying, hitting an 82,463.05. However, profit-taking in latter hours pushed index into negative territory as it hit an intra-low of 81,548.65. At close, after some buying in final hour, benchmark index settled at 81,850.50, down by 223.95 points or 0.27 percent. Profit-taking was largely seen in HUBC, MARI, PPL, OGDC and BAFL, which collectively contributed to decline of 634 points in index on Monday, brokerage house Topline Securities in its post-market report. Volume on all-share index decreased to 400.31 million from 482.37 million on Friday.

Value of shares declined to Rs 18.69 billion from Rs 30.19 billion in previous session. Pace (Pak) Ltd was volume leader with 30.38 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 29.18 million shares and Oil and Gas Dev with 23.08 million shares. Shares of 439 companies were traded on Monday, of which 143 registered an increase, 237 recorded fall, while 59 remained unchanged. Globally, Asian stocks firmed on Monday ahead of central bank meetings that are widely expected to deliver two more rate cuts and key US inflation figures that should flash green light for more easing there. Tokyo's Nikkei was shut but futures were trading at 38,530 compared to cash close of 37,723.