KARACHI, June 11: Stocks on Wednesday fell across a broad front as heavy selling by some leading institutional traders towards the close halted the market’s upward drive. The index fell by 1.53 points at 3,210.72 amid another heavily traded session.

“The correction was overdue,” says a leading stock analyst, “But what seems to have hastened it was conflicting rumours about imminent political changes and the consequent panic selling in the leading volume leaders.”

There is a general feeling that big ones may unload at least 25 per cent of their holdings in a bid to create a space for renewed buying, but if the retailers follow them the situation could be unmanageable, he fears.

For the second session in a row, the KSE 100-share index showed a highly erratic movements, touching the highest at 3,250.00 and the lowest at 3,210.72. The end at 3,211.25 points showed a fractional decline of 1.53 points, indicating big ones have some rethinking on the post-budget optimism.

Opinions are now divided about the future direction of the market. Some say the strong presence of institutional traders owing to massive surplus money will not allow the market to fall below the current levels technical corrections here and there notwithstanding.

Some others claim the market’s overbought position could cause major dents in the selective domain of bulls any time as profit- taking led by the carryover market at the current higher rates could mean anything to the broader market any day.

“So far investors seem to have ignored the negative side of the prevailing political polarization and continued to build up long positions on most of the low-priced second-liners,” says a leading analyst, adding “but the developing situation is not that simple as being viewed by many.”

Perceptions of a robust economic take-off and an ambitious sell-off plan of the state-owned units during the next three months may well be an attractive bait for any prospective investors, but those who are underestimating the strength of the strong opposition may well prove wrong in the final analysis, he predicts.

The massive volume for the second session in a row reflects an exit of a formidable section of investors after bailing themselves out from the long positions not the real fresh buying and signals major shift in future perceptions.

Meanwhile, the management of Dawood Hercules announced that it has acquired 61 million shares of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, which under the listing rules constitute more than 10 per cent voting shares of the company.

The share value of Sui Northern Gas has almost doubled to Rs34.60 from Rs16 after the management of Dawood Hercules started acquiring its floating stock.

Pakistan Services and Siemens Pakistan were leading among the gainers, up Rs5.75 and Rs25, respectively, followed by EFU Life, Island Textiles, Artistic Denim, Clariant Pakistan, Gillette Pakistan, Dawood Hercules, Ghani Glass and Mehmood Textiles, which posted gains ranging from Rs2 to Rs4.45.

Losers were led by IGI Insurance and Colgate Pakistan, off Rs4.95 and Rs6.85, respectively. Other prominent losers included Gul Ahmed Textiles, Gatron Industries, International Industries, Pakistan Refinery, Glaxo-SKF, IGI and Al-Ghazi Tractors, off Rs2 to Rs4.95.

Trading volume fell modestly to 525m shares from the previous 559m shares a day earlier as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 251 to 137, with 62 shares holding on to the last levels.

PTCL topped the list of most actives, lower 20 paisa at Rs26.70 on 84m shares followed by Sui Northern Gas, higher by Rs1.55 after the news that Dawood Hercules has lifted its more than 10 per cent shares, at Rs34.60 on 73m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer easy 10 paisa at Rs13.10 on 68m shares, Hub-Power, lower 10 paisa at Rs35.65 on 50m shares, Dewan Salman, up 65 paisa at Rs16.15 on 35m shares and Nishat Mills, higher by Rs1.90 at Rs33.30 on 23m shares.

Other actives were led by Pak PTA, up 15 paisa on 19m shares, Dewan Motors, higher by Rs1.20 on 17m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, lower Rs1.05 on 15m shares and National Bank, firm by 10 paisa on 14m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Sui Northern Gas came in for active support, up Rs1.55 at Rs33.55 on 13m shares, followed by PTCL, easy 10 paisa at Rs26.85 on 12m shares, Hub-Power lower also by 10 paisa at Rs35.70 on 9m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, easy five paisa at Rs13.20 on 7m shares and PSO, off one rupee at Rs214.25 on 5m shares.