May 30, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1427

KARACHI, May 29: Stocks on Monday took another massive plunge on panic- selling originating from all and sundry wiping out Rs113bn from the market capital as shares prices of oil and bank giants fell like house of cards.

But there was no matching buying at the dips from the leading bulls and the institutional traders followed by a complete rout of the bulls and “lower locks” on most of the blue chips.

The KSE 100-share index crashed by 412.70 points or 3.87 per cent on hasty-selling triggered by a spate of tax-related rumours in the new national budget due on June 5.

It finally finished at 10,247.60 on Monday as compared to 10,660.39 on Friday, wiping out Rs113bn from the market capital at Rs2,894bn. The largest single-session fall so far has been at 491.02 points on March 8 this year owing to negative fall-out of President Bush visit to Pakistan.

It is interesting to note that only index-heavy shares were targeted in an apparent move to outwit small investors and forced them to indulge in hasty selling.

The opening was on the higher side as it early rose to 10,707.95 points before the rumour-monger entered the market followed by a terrible confusion which triggered panic-selling, but there were no buyers at the falling prices.

All the leading blue chips, trend-setters and financially strong shares again faced lower locks and trading was suspended in them to forestall further fall notably OGDC, National Bank, Pakistan Oilfields and PTCL.

Institutional support is expected to re-emerge at the current lower levels even on Tuesday and will put the market back on the rails, predicts Ahsan Mehanti, a leading stock analyst.

“The selling may have political undercurrent,” fears a leading broker, adding “it is more intriguing that both the buyers and the sellers appear to be operating in unison for good reasons too.” A light volume of 161m shares equivalent to single session tally of an active share reflects this phenomenon.

For the last couple of weeks the market is in the tight grip of pre-budget tax-related rumours on the share business and the corporate sector, the disturbing feature is that even the well-informed among the leading investors including financial institutions are not coming to the aid of the market, some analysts said.

“A perfect and fundamentally strong market has been turned into a house of cards, which is dancing to the tune of few”, they said “where are the rescuers called bulls”.

No one could deny the fact that the share business mostly thrives on rumours and positive news seldom enthuse a formidable section of investors with a judicious blend of positive and negative ones to protect the interest of small investors, they added.

Minus signs again dominated the list under the lead of Pakistan Oilfields and Arif Habib Securities, off Rs19.40 and Rs29.85, followed by MCB, National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, Sanofi Aventis, PSO, Shell Pakistan and many others, off Rs11.50 to Rs17.90.

Gainers were led by Unilever Pakistan and Nestle Pakistan, up by Rs29.95 and Rs55.65 respectively. Other prominent gainers included Pakistan Engineering, Lakson Tobacco, HinoPak Motors, Jahangir Siddiqui Fund, Grays of Cambridge and IGI Insurance, which posted gains ranging from Rs3.90 to Rs17.35.

Trading volume fell further to 161m shares from the last weekend’s 177m shares as losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 290 to 48, with 21 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC came in for renewed selling and fell by Rs7.15 at Rs136.55 on 26m shares followed by National Bank, sharply lower by Rs12.10 at Rs230.50 on 15m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, lower Rs5.25 at Rs100.30 on 13m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs12 at Rs232 on 12m shares, PTCL, easy Rs2.40 at Rs45.60 on 8m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, off Rs19.40 at Rs369.10 on 6m shares and Bank of Punjab, lower Rs4.15 at Rs78.95 on 7m shares.

Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, off Rs6.20 on 9m shares, Pak PTA, easy 35 paisa on 5m shares and Union Bank, off Rs1.90 on 5m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank came in for active selling and led the list of actives, off Rs12.23 at Rs233.35 on 12m shares followed by OGDC, lower Rs7.20 at Rs136.95 also on 12m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, easy by Rs12.40 at Rs236.10 on 8m shares.

They were followed by D.G.Khan Cement, lower by Rs5.23 at Rs101.60 on 7m shares and Lucky Cement, off Rs5.45 at Rs104.15 also on 7m shares. Others were modestly traded.

DEFAULTER COS: Pangrio Sugar came in for active selling and fell by five paisa at Rs9.35 on 0.821m shares. Others were modestly traded mostly on the lower side.