December 18, 2007	Tuesday	Zilhaj 7, 1428

KARACHI, Dec 17: Stocks on Monday turned in an insipid performance as there was no evidence of widely speculated buying euphoria linked to lifting of the emergency as investors mostly played safe, analysts said.Price changes were largely fractional and reflected that investors were not inclined to go beyond the low-price shares ahead of Eid holidays and the absence of financial institutions.

“I don’t see the pre-holiday mood has gripped investors and they are more interested to have an overview of the market of sacrificial animals rather than the share business,” said analyst Faisal Abbas, adding that instances of strong selective support were, however, not lacking.

The KSE 100-share index on the other hand early rose by 79 points from the previous close but failed to sustain it on selling in the leading base shares and finished lower with a modest fall of 12.31 points at 15,544.22 points. Its junior partner the 30-shar index showed a fractional decline of 3.40 points at 17,412.24.

The investors had already made necessary portfolio adjustments after the announcement of date for lifting of the emergency during the last two weeks and did not make fresh investments owing to a long weekend ahead, said analyst Ashraf Zakaria.

A good number of weakholders and jobbers were among the sellers for obvious reasons as they wanted to get out of the market well before the Eid holidays.

“No one is inclined to take financial risks as any thing could happen during the coming holidays,” he said. However, the market is expected to witness flutters here and there during the last week of the fading year, having more than one records both in terms of index level and price flare-ups, he added .

Higher corporate earnings, attractive lower levels reached by some of the leading shares and expectations of strong presence of foreign investors could push the market to new highs during the coming weeks, some others said.

Analysts Ahsan Mehanti said leading investors were waiting likely re-emergence of foreign buying in the back drop of lifting of emergency possibly by the first week of January and that will give a fair idea of future market outlook.

JS & Co and Pakistan Resources Company were among the top gainers, up by Rs42.65 and Rs20 followed by Abbott Lab, Mari Gas, KSB Pumps, Cherat Papaersack, Unilever Pakistan, Shell Gas, Shezan International, Nestle Pakistan and National Foods, up by Rs7.80 to Rs19.25.

Prominent losers were led by Wyeth Pakistan and AKD Capital, off by Rs20 and Rs9.90, respectively. EFU General, Attock Petroleum, Agriautos, Pakistan Refinery, PSO, Siemens Pakistan and EFU Life followed them, off by Rs3.25 to Rs9.

Trading volume shrank to 180m shares from the previous 251m shares as losers held a comfortable lead over the gainers at 193 to 153, with 39 shares holding on to the last levels.

Askari Bank topped the list of actives, higher by Rs4.45 at Rs102.75 on reports of higher earnings on 18m shares followed by Arif Habib Securities, easy 15 paisa at Rs180.20 on 13m shares and Javed Omer, steady by 40 paisa at Rs171.40 on 12m shares.

Netsol Technologies, higher by Rs3.55 at Rs141.55 on 10m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, lower by 25 paisa at Rs20.70 on 7m shares, NIB Bank, firm by five paisa at Rs22.25 on 6m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, up by 45 paisa at Rs360.50 also on 6m shares.

Other actives included Azgard Nine Textiles, lower by 80 paisa on 6m shares, WorldCall Telecom, up by 15 paisa at Rs17.90 also on 6m shares and JS Bank, steady by five paisa on 5m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Askari Bank also led the list of actives on the cleared list on active short-covering, up by Rs4.50 at Rs102.25 on 7m shares followed by MCB, higher by Rs2 at Rs416 on 2m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, lower 15 paisa at Rs362.15 also on 2m shares.

National Bank followed them, off by Rs3 at Rs242.75 on 2m shares and Bank of Punjab, up by 70 paisa at Rs102.45 also on 2m shares.

DEFAULTER COMAPNIES: Japan Power led the list of actives on this counter, up by 10 paisa at Rs7.85 on 2.884m shares followed by Zeal Pak Cement, unchanged at Rs4.65 on 0.550m shares and Norrie Textiles, easy by 10 paisa at Rs1.90 on 0.292m shares.

Unity Modaraba on the other hand came in for stray selling and fell by 10 paisa at Rs1.90 on 0.227m shares followed by Pangrio Sugar, off Re1 at Rs18.45 on 0.151m shares.