KARACHI, Oct 29: Trading on the stock market on Wednesday remained insipid as leading investors kept to the sidelines most of the time awaiting some positive developments on the liquidity front. The KSE 100-share index remained static at the last close of 9,182.88 points in light turnover.

The news from the economic front, notably on the foreign aid and forex reserves fronts did worry them and leading among them mostly played safe and did not take undue risk at any of the counters despite attractively lower prices, analysts said.

But chief concern of the investors was the IMF demands, among others, to raise interest rates by about 3.5 per cent to qualify for an aid package of $6 billion if Pakistan finally opt for its funding, they said.

“The country is in a need of an immediate cash flow to clear its foreign debt and support its economic plan but so far there is no positive signal from any of the friends,” they said adding: ”The current sluggishness in the share market is partly based on the financial situation and partly the freeze on the index.”

News from the corporate front was fairly encouraging as interim working results pouring in bulk indicate that overall performance of this sector is on the higher side.

Some analysts feel that if the floor under the index is removed, the strength of the corporate sector could push the market higher from the current lows as investors will opt for selective short-covering at the current lower rates.

The third interim dividend at the rate of 40 per cent by the Fauji Fertiliser support their view that higher earnings reports could attract a lot of covering purchases, putting the market back on the rails.

It had already paid two interim payouts of 30 and 35 per cent amounting to 65 per cent to its shareholders. Its EPS rose to Rs4.13 from the previous Rs2.97.

Interim working results of Hub Power Company were also on the higher side as it earned a net profit of Rs702.00 million for the first quarter as compared to Rs507 million during the same period a year ago.

The notable feature was that some of the high-profile shares, notably MCB, PTCL, OGDC and United Bank came for modest buying but, though closed unchanged, have raised hopes that others may follow suit in the coming sessions.

Leading gainers were led by Fidelity Leasing, UDL Modaraba and Sitara Energy, which rose by 10 to 39 paisa, while losers were led by Mirza Sugar, Habib-

ADM, Pakistan Commercial Leasing, Gharibwal Cement and Pak Datacom, lower by five to 25 paisa.

Trading volume again fell to 179m shares from the previous 402m shares as losers topped gainers by six to three, with 28 shares remaining unchanged from the last levels.

Fidelity Leasing led the list of actives, up 29 paisa at Rs4.39 on 25,000 shares followed by PTCL, static at Rs31.50 on 19,500 shares, OGDC unchanged at Rs94.43 on 14,400 shares, Zeal Pak Cement, static at Rs1.16 on 10,500 shares, and Dewan Farooq Spinning, also static at Rs5.01 on 8,000 shares.

United Bank followed them, unchanged at Rs68.25 on 7,800 shares, National Foods, also unchanged at Rs235.75 on 7,300 shares and Pakistan Commercial Leasing, lower 15 paisa at 55 paisa on 6,000 shares.

Oct 29,2008

Market at a glance

TONE:easy,total listed 655,actives 37,inactives 618,plus three,minus six,unc 28

KSE 100-SHARE INDEX;previous 9,182.88,Wednesday’s 9,182.88,no change

MARKET CAPITAL;previous Rs.2,829.830bn,Wednesday’s 2,829.715bn,minus 115m

KSE 30-SHARE INDEX:previous 10,003.99,Wednesday’s 10,03.99,no change

KMI 30-SHARE INDEX;previous 11,224.18,Wednesday’s 11,224.18,no change

TOP TEN:gainers Sitara Energy 0.39,Fidelity Leasing 0.29,UDL Modaraba 0.10

LOSERS: Pak Datacome 0.25,Gharibwal Cement 0.20,Pak Commercial Leasing 0.15, Habib-ADM 0.13,Mirza Sugar 0.05

TOTAL VOLUME:178.440m shares

VOLUME LEADERS:Fidelity Leasing 25,000,PTCL 19,500,UDL Modaraba, 15,000,OGDEC 14,400,Zeal Pak cement 10,500 shares.