KARACHI, Dec 5: Stocks finished the weekend session on a steady note as investors were not inclined to make fresh commitments owing to a long weekend ahead and played mostly safe apparently awaiting positive decision by the KSE board on the removal of ‘floor’.

Analysts said after the refusal of the IMF to participate in the market support fund, a series of meetings were being held in the relative quarters to find alternate funding sources.

“Go alone; the inherent strength of the market may not be in peril. Strengthen it with all your financial might,” they urged the investors and brokers.

One should expect miracles in typical local conditions, but national interest demands some bold initiatives which are well in their reach, they added.

The notable feature of the trading was some of the leading blue-chips came in for trading on the forward counter and ended sharply lower under the lead of PSO and Pakistan Oilfields, which suffered sharp fall of Rs10.24 and Rs52.32, but without any deal.

The decline in prices of leading shares showed that investors were not inclined to pick up leading energy shares even at a discount of 25 to 30 per cent as they were unsure about the price outlook after normal trading resumes, floor brokers said.

Another negative factor was that investors stayed away and just marked their time as no one among them was in a mood to take risk because of a long Eidul Azha holiday weekend ahead, they said.

The KSE 30-share index suffered a fresh fall of 3.71 points owing to selling in some of the leading base shares. On Wednesday it fell by 23.12 points. However, the benchmark 100-share index was again held unchanged at 9,187.10 points.Market capital also showed a fresh fall of Rs466m at Rs2,817.397 as compared to previous Rs2,817.863 billion.

Out of the 13 actives, gainers and losers were evenly matched at four, with five shares remained unchanged.

Gainers were led by Sitara Energy, Gharibwal Cement, Al-Noor Modaraba and Saritow Spinning, which were quoted higher by 14 to 30 paisa.

Losses were also fractional ranging from one paisa to 92 paisa for Pak Commercial Leasing, National Asset Leasing and Chashma Sugar, but Pak Datacom posted sharp fall of Rs2.19 on early selling.

Trading volume fell to 41,700 shares from the previous 0.918m shares owing to the absence of leading investors.

Haydery Construction topped the list of actives, unchanged at Rs103 on 10,000 shares followed by Mian Textiles, static at Rs1.39 on 6,000 shares, Gharibwal Cement, steady by 16 paisa at Rs17.37 also on 6,000 shares, Balochistan Glass, static at Rs3.90 on 5,000 shares, Saritow Spinning, static at Rs1.36 on 4,500 shares, Pakistan Commercial Leasing, easy one paisa at Rs0.55 on 2,000 shares and Southern Electric, unchanged at Rs3.60 on 2,000 shares.

Sitara Energy followed them, up 14 paisa at Rs20.49 on 2,000 shares and Chashma Sugar, sharply lower by 92 paisa at Rs5.78 on 1,500 shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Four shares came in for active selling under the lead of Pakistan Oilfields and PSO, which fell sharply lower, while Engro Chemical and MCB Bank fell by 49 paisa and Rs1.04 at Rs179.95 and Rs234.71, but without any transaction.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: National Asset Leasing was fractionally marked down by three paisa at Rs0.40 on 2,000 shares, while others remained inactive.