KARACHI, May 30: The share market on Wednesday turned in a mixed performance as leading investors played on both sides of the fence apparently awaiting budgetary leaks to resume speculative buying on selected counters. The KSE 100-share index shed another 10.38 points at 12,806.93.
Although the broader market performed credibly well, active selling in the overvalued cement, oil shares and some other blue chips halted the recent price flare-up.
Analysts said the market was passing through a consolidation phase as leading investors took stock of their inventories before opting for pre-budget speculative buying.
The KSE 100-share index managed to trim losses on late covering purchases and closed at 12,806.93 from the previous 12,817.31, dipped by 10.38 points. The index touched sessions’ high and low at 12,876.95 and 12,785 respectively.
“The large volume tells that investors are very much in the arena but they have probably re-fixed their investment strategy before the national budget due next week despite some positive leaks,” analyst Ashraf Zakaria thinks.
There is a major shift in investor perceptions about the future share business outlook and signals originating from the apex court proceedings on the judicial crisis seem to have told them to play safe at least for the near-term, he said.
“The buying euphoria was not associated with pre-budget leaks as investors moved from the high profile issues to the second-liners to avert possible financial risks,” another analyst Ahsan Mehanti said.
Low-priced shares, such as JS Bank, Dewan Salman, Maple Leaf Cement and Bosicor Pakistan came in for active support accounted for bulk of the business. The current actives were mostly neglected and those which came in for trading ran into profit-selling.
The highly uneven movements reflected that investors were unsure about the outcome of political polarisation and judicial crisis and were mostly playing safe, analysts observed.
Rafhan Maize and Siemens Pakistan were among the top gainers, up by Rs39 and Rs73.25, followed by Javed Omer & Co, JS Global, Pakistan Tobacco, JS & Co, HinoPak, Clariant Pakistan, Sitara Chemicals, AKD Capital and Sanofi-Aventis, up by Rs5.10 to Rs12.35.
Millat Tractors and Al-Ghazi Tractors were leading gainers in the auto sector, higher by Rs15.70 and Rs13.45 respectively.
Unilever Pakistan and Nestle Pakistan were prominent among the losers, off Rs33 and Rs56.10 respectively. Other notable losers were led by PSO, Bata Pakistan, Colgate Pakistan and Fazal Textiles, off Rs5 to Rs8.
Trading volume fell to 308m shares from the previous 403m shares but gainers held a modest lead over the losers at 195 to 182, with 35 shares holding on to the last levels.
TRG Pakistan led the list of actives, lower 35 paisa at Rs12 on 23m shares followed by D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs2.75 at Rs103 on 19m shares, JS Bank, up by 80 paisa at Rs17.35 on 18m shares and Lucky Cement, off Rs3.35 at Rs108.85 on 15m shares.
Bosicor Pakistan, higher by Re1 at Rs16.30 on 14m shares, PTCL, up by 25 paisa at Rs53.90 on 13m shares, Bank of Punjab, easy by 25 paisa at Rs113.25 on 12m shares.
Other actives were led by Javed Omer Vohra & Co, up by Rs6.05 on 11m shares followed by Dewan Salman, lower by 20 paisa also on 11m shares and Maple Leaf Cement, up by Rs1.05 on 11m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Lucky Cement came in for renewed selling and was quoted lower by Rs3.40 at Rs110 on 6m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs3.05 at Rs103.90 also on 6m shares and Pervez Ahmed Securities, up by 65 paisa at Rs15.15 on 3m shares.
Bank of Bahawalpur followed them, easy 35 paisa at Rs113.90 on 3m shares and Maple Leaf Cement, up by Rs1.05 at Rs23 also on 3m shares.
DEFAULTER COUNTER: Unity Modaraba, led the list of actives on this counter, up by 10 paisa at Rs0.65 on 0.723m shares followed by Nimir Chemicals, easy by 10 paisa at Rs3.35 on 0.430m shares and Norrie Textiles, lower 10 paisa at Rs2.60 on 0.367m shares.
Zeal Pak Cement was also actively traded, unchanged at Rs5.15 on 0.282m shares, Japan Power, steady by five paisa at Rs4.25 on 0.167m shares and Pangrio Sugar, lower 40 paisa at Rs6.45 on 0.163m shares.
