KARACHI, June 6: After moving either-way, Karachi stocks on Thursday finished on an easy note on selling prompted by reports of Pakistan’s rejection of Indian proposal of a joint petrol of LoC in Kashmir to monitor alleged cross-border infiltration.

But profit-selling was well-absorbed at the dips thanks to the presence of strong institutional support and a good bit of bargain-hunting.

The KSE 100-share index after rising and falling under the cross-current of alternate bouts of buying and selling finally ended lower by 9.29 points at 1,714.85 as compared to 1,724.14 points a day earlier.

The post-Almaty trading pattern reflects investors are not that worried about the border situation or the war-like hysteria as they were before it despite the fact there was no change in the rigid position taken by India on the issue of bilateral talks.

“The investor mind-set appears to have taken for granted that there may not be any war between the two, the negative propaganda notwithstanding”, one broker predicts “there is no logic behind this perception excepting the intervention of big powers to broker a peace deal between the two nuclear powers”.

Pivotals, notably Hub-Power and PTCL led the market decline after early rise and took the entire market along with them in the minus column. The fall was, however, fractional and reflected the presence of strong buying at the dips.

“Whether or not the market stays above the psychological barrier of 1,700 index level tomorrow will set its future trend and how it perceive the rapid changes in the news coming in across the border”, one broker says.

After having risen by four per cent during the last two sessions on the perception of easing of the border situation as a fallout of the Almaty conference, stocks needed a correction and that came in the form of selling.

However, the underlying sentiment remained mixed as at one stage the index was up by five points and demonstrated that it will not bow down to the bear pressure.

Stock analysts said although the situation on the borders is still tense and fears of war are there, investors have chosen to behave in an orderly manner ruling out the possibility of a conflict.

“There is a loud whispering in the market that the situation on the borders may remain tense but diplomatic efforts currently at work may not allow any conflict between the two close nuclear neighbours”, they feel.

The US deputy secretary of State, Richard Armitage is in Islamabad on a peace mission to ease the tension and indications are that he will “leave the subcontinent after having brokered a genuine peace between the warring neighbours”, they hope.

Major losers were led by Fateh Textiles and Wyeth Pakistan, falling by Rs5 to Rs12.95 followed by Packages, Engro Chemical and Shell Pakistan, Siemens Pakistan, Lever Brothers and Shafiq Textiles, off one rupee to Rs1.90.

Ahmed Hassan Textiles, Maqbool Textiles, National Bank, Adamjee Insurance and Pak Reinsurance, Burewala Textiles, and Gatron Industries were leading among the gainers, finishing higher by one rupee to Rs10.

Trading volume rose to 160m shares from the previous 150m shares but losers held a fair lead over the gainers at 130 to 93, with 45 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was again topped by Hub-Power, lower 10 paisa at Rs23.65 on 58m shares followed by PTCL, easy 25 paisa at Rs16.35 on 29m shares, National Bank, higher Rs1.40 at Rs18.55 on 15m shares, Sui Northern Gas, off 20 paisa at Rs13.85 on 10m shares and FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, easy five paisa at Rs6.75 on 8m shares.

Other actives were led by ICI Pakistan, up 50 paisa on 6.462m shares, Adamjee Insurance, higher by Rs1.70 on 5m shares, KESC, easy five paisa on 4.732m shares, Bank of Punjab, up 35 paisa on 4.189m shares and Engro Chemical, off Rs1.50 on 4m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS: Unlike the ready section, the forward counter showed mixed trend as some of the leading shares ICI Pakistan, Dewan Salman and Ibrahim Fibre managed to finish modestly higher. Engro Chemical, which fell by Rs1.30 at 60.25 was leading among the losers.