04 September 2004	Saturday	18 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Sept 3: Stocks passed through another terribly sluggish trading session on Friday as leading investors were again conspicuous by their absence partly because of weekend considerations and partly to fears of free float from the carryover market.

What seems to have scared small investors and jobbers was the protracted absence of leading investors from the market who are not inclined to take new positions on any of the counters despite higher dividend announcements by Hub-Power and Atlas Battery.

The KSE 100-share index after early rising in response to higher dividend news later turned lower and was off 8.81 points at 5,318.72 as compared to 5,327.53 a day earlier as leading base shares remained under pressure.

"The Capital Value Tax (CVT), may be one of the reasons behind the falling volume and investor interest in the share business but not the whole truth", analysts said "the reasons behind the prevailing sluggishness may be found somewhere else".

What is more disturbing is that even the institutional traders including leading financial institutions are not interested to buy even those shares, which have the potential of capital gains.

As was speculated the board of directors of Hub-Power, which met in London on Thursday, announced a final dividend at the rate of 16 per cent, it has already paid an interim dividend of an identical amount despite technical fault in its fourth generator for the last couple of months.

The directors of Atlas Battery gave a pleasant surprise to even most well-informed analysts after announcing a cash dividend of 60 per cent plus bonus shares of 40 per cent.

The share value of Hub-Power, which has been on declining for the last couple of sessions, remained static while on the other hand Atlas Battery suffered fall on post-dividend selling.

Floor brokers said in normal trading conditions good corporate news did evoke a lot of interest on those counters from where they originate but the situation is now quite the reverse.

Higher carryover rates and volume do in normal conditions influence the market trend but falling volume shows that the float from there is not that alarming and hence not a bearish factor.

Much of the activity remained confined to cement, energy, banking, insurance and telecom shares but there was no large volume on any of the counters as investors played on both sides of the fence.

Minus signs again led the list of actives under the lead of Atlas Battery, Gatron Industries and Pakistan Cables, off Rs7 to Rs11 followed by Sapphire Fibre, Zulfiqar Industries, Shahtaj Sugar, Noon Sugar, Al-Ghazi Tractors, PSO and Javed Omer, which suffered fall ranging from Rs2.20 to Rs4.

Leading gainers were led by Atlas Honda, up Rs20.10 ahead of dividend announcement, followed by National Foods, Packages Limited, International Industries, Colgate Pakistan and Nestle Milkpak, up by Rs4.95 to Rs10 amid active trading.

Trading volume fell further to 103m shares from the previous 112m shares as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 181 to 123, with 58 shares holding onto the last levels.

The active list was topped by OGDC, up by 15 paisa at Rs64.90 on 13m shares followed by National Bank, off 60 paisa at Rs70.75 on 7m shares, Pak PTA, easy 10 paisa at Rs14 also on 7m shares, Hub-Power, unchanged at Rs31.05 on 7m shares and Sui Northern Gas, easy five paisa at Rs58.50 on 6m shares.

Other actives were led by PTCL, up by 15 paisa on 6m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, lower 25 paisa also on 6m shares, F.F.Bin Qasim, easy 25 paisa on 5m shares, ICI Pakistan, off 40 paisa also on 5m shares and Askari Bank, easy 30 paisa on 4m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Some of the sugar shares again came in for active support under the lead of Pangrio Sugar and Al-Asif Sugar, which rose by 30 paisa and Rs1.50 at Rs4.45 and Rs7.60 on 0.482m and 0.388m shares respectively.

Other actives were led by Crescent-Standard Bank, lower 30 paisa at Rs10.80 on 0.107m shares, while all others were fractionally traded.

DIVIDEND: Hub-Power, final 16 per cent, Atlas Battery, cash 60 per cent plus bonus shares of 40 per cent.

BOARD MEETINGS: union Leasing, on Sept 9, Nishat Chunian, Umer Fabrics on Sept 10, Pakistan Oilfields, on Sept 11 and Pakistan Refinery on Sept 14.

FORWARD COUNTER: Pakistan Petroleum came in for active selling and fell by 60 paisa at Rs108.30 on 8m shares followed by OGDC, up by 15 paisa at Rs65.05 on 2m shares, F.F.Bin Qasim, lower 25 paisa at Rs21.40 on 2m shares, Hub-Power, easy 15 paisa at Rs31.10 also on 2m shares and Sui Northern Gas, lower 10 paisa at Rs58.65 on 1m shares.