February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

KARACHI, Feb 3: The KSE 100-share index plunged by another 73.58 points or three per cent as reports of a bomb blast in a posh area of the city triggered fresh hasty selling from the weakholders and jobbers amid falling demand. It ended around 2,471.49 points eroding Rs15bn from the market capitalization at Rs546.513bn.

Hub-Power was again the major target of alternate bouts of buying and selling, which alone accounted for about a half of the total volume amid conflicting reports about the dividend. It touched the highest at Rs35 and the lowest at Rs33.15 before finishing recovered at Rs34.65.

PTCL on the other hand received massive battering in the absence of support at the falling prices, and at one stage took the index as low as 104 points because of its weightage of 33 per cent.

The stock market crash was further accentuated as bears intensified their sell-off and in the absence of matching support or covering purchases from any quarter prices maintained their downward drive.

Although the reports about the bomb blast in a city posh area came toward the closing bell it did trigger panic selling from already shaky investors. Initial reports say one person was killed and several were hurt.

The KSE 100-share index breached through the barrier of 2,500 or three per cent as compared to the weekend close. It has fallen about 500 points or 30 per cent during the last about one week after having touched its career-best level of 2,955 points during the third week of the last month and where it will find its sustainable level is still unclear.

“The persistent decline in the index reflects that the ghost investors are leaving the market progressively,” says a leading stock analyst “but it is intriguing to note that cash heavy institutional traders are watching the market fall without intervening.”

The market is heading to prove that the January price flare-up was speculative rather genuine and the question being asked in the trading hall is that “how some of the basic positive fundamentals will work in future share trading.”

“I don’t think investors have the will or the perception to buy at dips,” says a leading broker. “Everyone is awaiting the level at which bulls led by the financial traders strike back.”

All the bulls and leading investors seem to have turned into an active bears as was reflected by falling prices but no significant buyer even at an attractively lower levels attained by most of the blue chips.

Most of the overvalued shares, notably in the energy, chemical, auto and food sectors remained under pressure and finished with sharp extended fall partly because of the absence of leading bulls.

Big losers were led by Javed Omer, Attock Refinery, National Refinery, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Abbott Lab, Engro Chemical, Pakistan Refinery, Pakistan Oilfields, PSO, Dawood Hercules,BOC Pakistan and Shell Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs3.50 to Rs14.

Other leading shares including Adamjee Insurance, Noon Sugar, Mari Gas, Bannu Woollen and Wyeth Pakistan and some others also fell by Rs2.20 to Rs10. Some of the leading shares, notably Al- Mal Securities, Arif Habib Securities, Crescent Bank, EFU Life Insurance, Mehmood Textiles, Fauji Fertilizer, Al-Ghazi Tractors and Unilever Pakistan came in for modest support and rose by Rs135 to Rs31.

Trading volume fell further to 179m shares from the previous 194m shares as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 237 to 38, with 36 shares holding on to the last levels.

Hub-Power led list of actives, easy 10 paisa at Rs34.65 on 79m shares followed by PTCL, sharply lower by one rupee at Rs21.65 on 28m shares, PSO, off Rs8.25 at Rs182.70 on 11m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, lower 85 paisa at Rs10.05 on 8m shares, Sui Northern Gas, easy 85 paisa at Rs21.30 on 7m shares and MCB, up 75 paisa at Rs34.85 on 4m shares.

Other actives were led by KESC, lower 25 paisa on 6m shares, Fauji Fertilizer, higher by Rs1.35 on 5m shares, Pak PTA, lower 35 paisa on 4m shares and Engro Chemical, sharply lower by Rs4.35 on 3m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Fresh heavy selling in PSO led the decline on the forward counter followed by ICI Pakistan and Engro Chemical, which fell by Rs2.32 and Rs4.35 at Rs49.70 and Rs84 respectively. The notable feature was that matured January settlements were rung off the board and the February contracts assumed the role of ruling deliveries.

Hub-Power was marked down by 34 paisa at Rs34.85 on 25m shares followed by PTCL, off one rupee at Rs21.80 on 5m shares and PSO, down Rs8.60 at Rs184.25 also on 5m shares.

Fauji Fertilizer was an exception, which came in for active short-covering at the lower level and finished recovered by Rs1.90 at Rs77. FFC-Jordan Fertilizer was off 90 paisa at Rs10.15 on 0.928m shares.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Easy conditions were also witnessed on this counter apparently in sympathy with the ready section. Suzuki Motorcycles led the list, easy 25 paisa at Rs6.75 on 6,500 shares followed by Schon Modaraba, easy 10 paisa at Rs0.60 on 5,500 shares and Allied Motors, off one rupee at Rs10 on 3,000 shares.