KARACHI, Oct 30: Trading activity on the stock market on Thursday further shrank as investors kept to the sidelines awaiting some positive developments on the liquidity front after Shaukat Tareen’s visit to the KSE on Friday.

He is expected to chair a joint meeting of the high-ups of the KSE, SECP and financial institutions, analysts hoped to finalise the bailout package for the market. A new fund of Rs20 is proposed to be set up to buy nine shares of the public sector companies initially to boost the investor confidence.

The removal of floor from under the KSE 100-share index is also expected to be mooted after the liquidity arrangements are finalised and a new timeframe is expected to be announced about its lifting, market sources hoped.

The business in the ready section was terribly dull as the turnover figure fell to a new low of 0.111m shares surpassing the previous lowest total of 0.120m shares recorded last week.

The KSE 100-share, KSE 30-share and KMI 30-share indices did not show any movement and were again quoted unchanged at the previous levels of 9,182.88, 10,003.99 and 11,224.18 respectively.

Although trading activity on the ready counter remained terribly low, off-the-floor transactions remained on the higher side as a section of investors continue to liquidate their positions a discount of 15 to 20 per cent, said a leading stock analyst Tabish H. Rajabali.

“There are now two parallel markets are operating. One is off-the-floor where bulk of the activity is done and the other is regular which lacks normal support from any quarter,” he said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said Asian markets seemed to be well on the road of recovery after the US Fed cut discount rate by half a percentage point, the local market may follow suit in the coming sessions after the forex position shows some improvement.

The reports about the approval of an immediate aid package by the IMF was well-received in the market, said analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali, adding that what enthused investors the most was a loud whispering that the IMF had dropped the condition of hike in interest rates”.

In physical trading, only nine shares came in for alternate bouts of buying and selling under the lead of Sitara Energy and Gharibwal Cement, which rose by Re1 and 29 paisa respectively.

Kohinoor Mills and Fidelity Leasing on the other hand fell by Re1 and 21 paisa, with nine other holding onto the last levels under the lead of Sui Northern Gas and Shell Pakistan at Rs27.91 and Rs310.31 respectively.

Trading volume fell to a new low of 0.11m shares as compared to 0.179m shares a day earlier but there was no large deal in any of the actives.

Gharibwal Cement led the list of actives, up by 29 paisa at Rs17.29 on 37,000 shares followed by Sitara Energy, higher by Re1 at Rs19.50 on 19,500 shares, Fidelity Leasing, lower by 21 paisa at Rs4.18 on 15,500 shares, Sui Northern Gas, static at Rs27.91 on 14,200 shares, Shell Pakistan, also static at Rs310.31 on 7,900 shares, Thal, unchanged at Rs90.64 on 5,000 shares and Kohinoor Mills, off Re1 at Rs15.86 on 4,000 shares.

Shifa International followed them, unchanged at Rs20.05 on 3,500 shares, Regent Textiles, unchanged at Rs26 on 2,000 shares and Bosicor Pakistan, static at Rs8.70 on 1,000 shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Trading on this counter remained dull as no share came in for buying and selling and so did most of the shares listed on the defaulter counter.