March 29, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1428

KARACHI, March 28: New exposure margins set by the KSE for its members halted the market’s upward drive on Wednesday as blue chips came in for stray selling and tended lower in the absence of fresh support. The KSE 100-share index fell by 94.91 points at 11,233.56.

A sharp fall in the turnover figure reflected that investors were analysing the negative impact of the KSE new steps on their future buying operations and mostly stayed on the sidelines.

Analysts attributed the reaction to KSE announcement that the members have to pay exposure margins at the rate of 60 per cent in cash and 40 per cent in the form of securities under the rule governing the Cash Settled Future (CFS) contracts market.

But the reaction appears to be psychological and may not prove a major deterrent in the market’s upturn based on other positive factors including higher dividend and bonus shares coming in from the insurance sector.The KSE 100-share reacted from its overnight high finishing with a net fall of 94.91 points at 11,233.56 as compared to 11,328.47 a day earlier reflecting the weakness of leading base shares. Its junior member 30-share index also shed 145.52 points at 13,982.18 points.

Most of the leading base shares, notably OGDC, National Bank, Hub-Power, Pakistan Petroleum and some others remained under pressure and ended lower.

But on the other hand some low-priced shares came in for active short-covering and ended higher amid active two-way trading.

“I don’t think bears have the strength to push prices further down,” a leading analyst Ashraf Zakria said “there are other positive factors on which investors could base their future commitments”.

“Investors seem to have learnt to live with the current negatives including the judicial crisis,” another analyst Ahsan Mehanti believes, adding “the market is expected to follow its creeping rally sans a major breakthrough”.

Trading volume again fell to 103m shares from the previous 131m shares as leading sellers kept to the sidelines, while losers maintained a fair lead over the gainers at 189 to 121, with 40 shares holding on to the last levels.

Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim topped the list of actives, lower 55 paisa at Rs30.85 on 8m shares followed by OGDC, easy 45 paisa at Rs117.75 also on 8m shares, National Bank, sharply lower by Rs5.95 at Rs227.60 on 6m shares, WorldCall Telecom, up by 20 paisa at Rs11.05 on 6m shares, Hub-Power, lower 80 paisa at Rs30.20 on 6m shares and Lucky Cement, off Rs1.75 at Rs79.20 on 5m shares.

J.S. Bank followed them, easy by 55 paisa on 5m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, lower 15 paisa on 4m shares, Kot Addu Power, up by 20 paisa also on 4m shares and Bank of Khyber, off 40 paisa on 4m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Hub-Power led the list of actives on the cleared, easy by 75 paisa at Rs30 on 9m shares followed by its April contracts, easy by 40 paisa at Rs30.45 on 8m shares and National Bank, off Rs6.11 at Rs228 on 6m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Trading activity on this counter was relatively slow in the absence of bargain-hunters. Some of the undervalued shares, notably Mukhtar Textiles came in for stray support and was quoted higher by 30 paisa at Rs2.45 on 0.156m shares followed by Norrie Textiles, unchanged at Rs3 on 0.137m shares and Nimir Chemicals, lower five paisa at Rs2.45 on 0.112m shares.

DIVIDEND: Askari General Insurance, bonus shares at the rate of 30 per cent.

BOARD MEETINGS: Service Industries on April 2, American Life Insurance, Pakistan Slag Cement, Standard Chartered Bank and Zeal-Pak Cement on April 3, Shell Pakistan, on April 16 and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim on April 24.