June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

KARACHI, June 22: Stocks on Friday fell across-the-board on panic-selling triggered by reports of filing of disqualification reference against the prime minister by the Opposition amid fears of political uncertainty.

Although the opening was a bit better apparently on spillover of overnight pent-up demand but later panic-selling gripped the market and there were more sellers than buyers, floor brokers said.

The KSE 100-share index suffered a sharp fall of 153.33 points or 1.13 per cent at 13,392.47 as compared to 13,545.80 a day earlier as leading base shares came in for active selling at the inflated levels under the lead of OGDC, National Bank and Bank of Punjab. The market capital was fell by Rs48.616bn at Rs3,890.461bn.

However, it finished well above the session’s low of 13,249 points on late covering purchases in some of the pivotals.

Leading cement shares came in for strong speculative buying under the lead of Lucky Cement on reports of higher exports and so did some other blue chips, but they failed to avert the major weekend fall.

Just in the backdrop of judicial crisis, a war of disqualification references between the contenders of power has begun to outwit each other. The latest being against the prime minister on alleged charges of stock market crash of 2005 and Pakistan Steel deal.

“The Opposition claim of more references to follow in due course could further destabilise the share market,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti fears, adding “the chief casualty may be the foreign stakeholders”.

However, there was nothing basically wrong with the positive market fundamentals, which could take it to new highs within no time sans depressants, another analyst Ashraf Zakaria believes, adding “but the talk of snap elections at this stage could take the current heat out of the market just in no time”.

Some other analysts are divided over the future share business outlook but all are terribly worried over the developing scenario on the political front, which could take heat any of a bull market any time.

“The next week will herald the end of the current financial year on June 30, analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali said. “Much of the market future direction is linked to whether or not year-end institutional buying re-emerge on a bigger way,” he added.

JS & Co and Wyeth Pakistan were leading among the gainers, up by Rs20.45 and Rs50, followed by Fazal Textiles, Pakistan Resource Co, Gatron Industries, Lucky Cement, Pakistan Cables and JS Global, which posted gains ranging from Rs6.30 to Rs18.10.

Losers were led by Pakistan Services and Nestle Pakistan, off by Rs20 and Rs54. Other prominent losers included Javed Omer, Bank of Punjab, Atlas Insurance, Sapphire Fibres, Ferozsons, AKD Securities, PSO, Atlas Battery, National Foods, United Bank, Arif Habib Ltd and Sanofi-Aventis, off Rs6 to Rs16.15.

Trading volume fell to 309m shares from the previous 410m shares as losers forced strong lead over the gainers at 89 to 232, with 28 shares holding on to the last levels.

Lucky Cement topped the list of actives, up by Rs6.30 at Rs133.05 on reports of higher exports on 32m shares followed by D.G. Khan, up by Rs1.50 on the same reasons, at Rs117.90 on 30m shares and Bank of Punjab, off Rs5.70 at Rs108.30 on selling triggered by reports of some “operational risks”.

Askari Bank, lower by Rs1.35 at Rs99.85 on 12m shares, Saudi Pak Bank, up by Rs1.10 at Rs24 on 10m shares, OGDC, off Rs1.25 at Rs119.25 on 8m shares and PTCL, easy five paisa at Rs54.70 on 7m shares.

Other actives were led by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, lower five paisa on 12m shares, Maple Leaf Cement, easy 55 paisa on 9m shares and WorldCall Telecom, off 50 paisa on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Lucky Cement also proved a top performer on the cleared list, up by Rs6.20 at Rs133.05 on 24m shares followed by D.G. Khan Cement, up by Rs1.50 at Rs118.35 on 14m shares, Bank of Punjab, off Rs5.30 at Rs108.40 on 9m shares.

National Bank followed them, off Rs3.40 at Rs255.60 on 5m shares and OGDC, lower by Rs1.45 at Rs119.50 on 4m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Active weekend selling was witnessed in all the current actives, which fell modestly under the lead of Nimir Chemical, lower by 25 paisa at Rs3.45 on 0.926m shares followed by Zeal Pak Cement, easy by 35 paisa at Rs5.55 on 0.826m shares and Norrie Textiles, lower 30 paisa at Rs2.50 on 0.370m shares.

S.S. Oils and Crescent Standard Modaraba were also actively traded but on the lower side.

DIVIDEN: Mari Gas, second interim at the rate of 10.18 per cent, Exide Pakistan, cash final 25 per cent, Tariq Glass, right shares at the rate of 100 per cent at a premium of Rs15 per share, Bestway Cement, right shares at the rate of 10 per cent, Automotive Battery, nil.