Karachi: Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 Index opened on higher note on Monday, adding more than 600 points during intra-day trading before late-session selling erased gains and pushed index into negative territory.

At close, benchmark index settled at 85,261.39, down by 222.02 points or 0.26 percent. “This profit-taking was influenced by expected downward revision of earnings for HUBC, which declined by 9.15 percent following early termination of contract. Key contributors to index included HUBC, EFERT, OGDC, BAHL and ENGRO, which collectively subtracted 532 points. Conversely, positive movements from FFC, NBP, ATRL and ISL added 326 points to index, Topline said.

Volume on all-share index decreased to 477.64 million from 560.74 million on Friday. Value of shares declined to Rs 23.47 billion from Rs 26.12 billion in previous session. WorldCall Telecom was volume leader with 41.06 million shares, followed by Hub Power Co. with 37.18 million shares and Pak RefineryXD with 30.17 million shares. Shares of 443 companies were traded on Monday, of which 205 registered an increase, 180 recorded fall while 58 remained unchanged. Globally, Asian stock markets rose on Monday and currencies declined as investors assessed China’s underwhelming stimulus measureOnshore yuan was 0.1 percent lower while stocks in Shanghai rallied 1.7 percent. South Korean won inched 0.4 percent lower while Malaysian ringgit dipped 0.1 percent as US dollar extended gains. UK’s main stock indexes opened largely flat  as investors await set of crucial economic data this week. Blue-chip index FTSE 100 was trading flat at 8247.86, while mid-cap index FTSE 250 lost 0.1 percent.