January 25, 2006	Wednesday	Zilhaj 24, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 24: Stocks on Tuesday failed to sustain the overnight historic levels as bears indulged in heavy selling in a highly overbought market and temporarily halted its upward drive. The KSE 100-share index was off 176.07 points at 10,170.40, wiping out Rs53 billion from the market capital at Rs2,931bn.

Panic followed after leading operators unloaded long positions at the inflated levels in bank, cement and other blue chips but the presence of support at dips reflects there is nothing basically wrong with the underlying sentiment.

The market’s relative weakness after a sustained bull-run to an all-time high index level of 10,346.47 was well-reflected in 1.70 per cent or 176.07 points fall in the KSE 100-share index at 10,170.40 after an early rise of 75 points. It touched the day’s lowest and the highest at 10,168.13 and 10,431.99 points during the session.

“Essentially, it was a technical correction long overdue in a highly overbought market”, analysts said, adding “But bulls ruled out any possible retreat before surpassing the last year index level and they did it”.

“I don’t think there is any panic among the leading bulls,” says a leading broker “the current pause is a technical breather and the market will back on the rails even from Wednesday”.

Corporate announcements both final and interim by some of the leading companies are due during the current and next week, which could give the needed push to a robust market, he added.

Small and genuine investors were, however, a bit worried over the snap market fall and may sit on the sidelines awaiting the fresh bear manoeuvring, some others said.

Massive selling in the leading bank shares, notably National Bank, MCB, Bank of Punjab, which ended well below their limit fall. For instance, National Bank was down by 12.10 paisa at Rs230.85 and so did MCB at Rs187.65, off Rs10.

Analysts said owing to inhibiting levels attained by most of the blue chips there is a perceptible shift in investor preference from the high profile issues to the low-priced ones.

Secondary scrips, such as TRG Pakistan, Telecard and some others, which ruling below Rs20 per share, therefore, came in for active support and finished with smart gains amid active trading.

Leading gainers were led by Noon Pakistan and Colgate Pakistan, up by Rs7.85 and 14.60, followed by Packages, Mitchlle’s Farms, Bolan Casting, Pakistan Engineering, Sanofi-Aventis, Shezan International and Dreamworld, up by Rs4.15 to Rs5.50.

Losers were led by Arif Habib Securities and Shell Pakistan, off Rs24 and Rs36 respectively. Other prominent losers included PSO, Pakistan Oilfields, Suzuki Motors, Millat Tractors, Dawood Hercules, Treet Corporation, Attock petroleum, MCB, National Bank and Gillette Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs9 to Rs16.90.

Trading volume rose to 492m shares from the previous 428m shares as gainers trailed far behind the losers at 111 to 276, with 41 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC, led the list of most actives, up by 55 paisa at Rs124 on 58m shares followed by Bank of Punjab, off Rs3.60 at Rs115.75 on 46m shares, D.G,Khan Cement, lower Re1 at Rs116.05 on 40m shares, National Bank, off by Rs12.10 at Rs230.85 on 36m shares, PTCL, lower by 35 paisa at Rs66.20 on 30m shares, Maple Leaf Cement, down Rs2.30 at Rs44.45 on 25m shares and TRG Pakistan, up by 65 paisa at Rs14.70 on 23m shares.

Other actives included MCB, lower by Rs9.95 at Rs187.65 on 16m shares, Telecard, higher by 75 paisa also on 16m shares, and Lucky Cement, off Rs3.50 on 18m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Telecard led the list of actives on this counter, up by 80 paisa at Rs19.85 on 12m shares followed by National Bank, off Rs12.16 at Rs231.07 also on 12m shares and OGDC, up by 32 paisa at Rs124.07 on 9m shares.

Bank of Punjab followed them, off Rs3.70 at Rs116 on 8m shares and MCB, off Rs9.85 at Rs187.45 on 7m shares. Other leading shares fell on modest turnover.

The notable feature was that trading also commenced in the forward February contracts sides by side the maturing January settlements, which also fell in sympathy with January contracts.

DEFAULTER COS: Owing to active selling in the ready section, activity on this counter remained low and prices generally fell where changed on stray selling.

Indus Polyester and Dandot Cement were leading among them, off 50 paisa each at Rs5.50 and Rs10.70 on 0.187m and 0.162m shares respectively.

DIVIDEND: Golden Arrow Selected Stocks Fund, interim cash 20 per cent, right shares at the rate of 75 percent at par, International Industries, interim 20 percent for the year ended Dec 31, 2005.