KARACHI, July 15: Stocks on Thursday fell across a broad front as leading investors kept to the sidelines apparently assessing the long-term impact of the latest central bank move to limit bank investment in PIBs on the share business.

Leading bulls and institutional traders virtually relaxed on the sidelines encouraging bears to take profits at the inflated levels in the overbought bank shares. The KSE 100-share index suffered a decline of 35.29 points at 5,438.94 as compared to 5,474.23 a day earlier as all the leading base shares attracted profit-selling.

The market sentiment in part was also influenced adversely by the fresh round of offloading in some of the leading bank shares in the backdrop of central bank circular seeking details of their investment in PIBs.

"The current central bank moves seek to contain the recent increase in PIBs yields as it will have negative impact on the share market", a leading stock analyst Faisal Abbas thinks adding "but the latest one could have positive impact in the long-run as it aims at limiting bank holdings in PIBs".

As the IPO of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited is drawing nearer (July 19-22), a section of investors is lining up funds after selling in part on some of the overvalued counters and that may be one of the causes behind the market's sluggishness.

"The unwarranted lull may have caused by the fallout of some negative news on the political front", said Syed Adil Ehtsham another stock analyst adding but it appears to be a tactical move by the leading bulls as the market is passing through a consolidation phase".

But I don't think bears have that manoeuvring skill to keep the market in the negative column beyond a specific time, says a broker. "Bulls may have something new in their minds as everyone among them is keeping an eye on the timeframe after Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz takes over as prime minister of the country", he says.

The index could lose another 50 or odd points but its onward march the index level of 6,000 now is not based on speculative thinking, he adds. The KSE 100-share index, which has been maintaining its steady run-up since early week despite a weaker broader market also turned lower as bears sold heavily in some of the leading base shares, notably OGDC, PTCL and some others.

Food shares, notably Shezan International and Rafhan Maize Products led the market resistance to fresh decline, up by Rs5.90 to Rs9 followed by PICIC, Bank of Punjab, Habib Insurance, National Foods, Sana Industries, Babri Cotton, Gillette Pakistan, EFU Life and Mehmood Textiles, up by Rs2 to Rs4.

Javed Omer and Fateh Textiles were leading among the losers, which suffered a fall ranging from Rs13 to Rs18.80. Other prominent losers included Pakistan Refinery, Sapphire Fibre, Dawood Hercules, Island Textiles, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Siemens Pakistan, Gatron Industries and Lakson Tobacco, off Rs4 to Rs8.

Trading volume fell to 233m shares from the previous 312m shares as gainers trailed far behind the losers at 202 to 90, with 52 shares holding on to the last levels.

Bank of Punjab topped the list of actives, up by Rs2.15 at Rs66.60 on 65m shares followed by National Bank, easy 20 paisa at Rs71.30 on 15m shares, OGDC, lower 40 paisa at Rs66.85 also on 15m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, off 70 paisa at Rs59.40 on 14m shares, PSO, up 55 paisa at Rs269.55 on 13m shares, PTCL, easy 15 paisa at Rs43.65 on 8m shares and ICP SEMF, off 40 paisa at Rs51.95 also on 8m shares.

Other actives were led by Nishat Mills, up by 40 paisa on 11m shares, TRG (right) Pakistan, lower 35 paisa on 8m shares and Hub-Power, easy 25 paisa on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Pakistan Petroleum remained in strong demand and was quoted further higher by Rs2.20 at Rs113.95 on 26m shares followed by PSO, up by 65 paisa at Rs270.65 on 3m shares, OGDC, off 45 paisa at Rs66.90 also on 3m shares.