KARACHI: Equities on the stock market on Tuesday resisted fresh fall as some of the leading shares in the oil and banking sectors came in for active short-covering, but the broader market stayed weak amid worries linked to changing political scenario.

‘The NRO related worries may continue haunting investors despite the government’s decision not to table it in the parliament,’ some brokers observed, adding unless the issue is settled down, investors notably foreign ones would think twice re-entering the market.

The general investor view about the unfolding political scenario is terribly negative as they need peace both on the law and order and political front, they added.

The KSE 100-share index managed to recover in part 66.59 points at 8,938.99, indicating absence of any effort by the bulls to regain the crucial index level of 9,000.

The KSE 30-share index on the other hand showed a bigger rise of 99.62 points or 1.07 per cent at 9,415.57 on the strength of its leading base shares.

The steep fall in the turnover and fractional price changes reflect the general apathy on the part of leading investors in the absence of their foreign counterparts to make bigger commitments at lower levels, analysts said.

But it was satisfying to note that there were no signs of panic witnessed a day earlier as some of the leading shares staged technical recovery, although failed to retain a good part of the initial gains on late selling.

Attock Petroleum and Unilever Pakistan led the list of top gainers, up by Rs9.89 and Rs17.67 followed by Habib Bank, MCB Bank, Javedan Cement, PSO, Siemens Pakistan, Shezan International and Pakistan Oilfields, which posted gains ranging from Rs4.31 to Rs6.81.

Unilever Foods and Bata Pakistan led the list of losers, off Rs61.34 and Rs43.67. Other prominent losers included EFU Life, Shahtaj Sugar, Thal Industries, Lakson Tobacco, National Refinery, Exide Pakistan, Sanofi-Aventis, Sitara Chemical and Colgate Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs5.50 to Rs18.44.

Trading volume fell to 130.584m shares from the previous 152m shares as losers held a modest lead over the gainers at 195 to 172, with 22 shares holding onto the last levels.

The active list was again topped by JS & Co, off Rs1.66 at Rs31.69 on 18m shares followed by Arif Habib Securities, lower by Rs2.16 at Rs46.88 also on 18m shares and Pak PTA, steady by 12 paisa at Rs6.75 on 6m shares. Pakistan Premier Fund, firm eight paisa at Rs6.40 on 5m shares, National Bank, lower 69 paisa at Rs78.69 also on 5m shares, OGDC, up Rs2.39 at Rs103.61 on 4m shares and D.G. Khan Cement, easy by 94 paisa at Rs26.65 also on 4m shares.

Bank Alfalah followed them, steady by 11 paisa at Rs12.92 on 3m shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, up 88 paisa at Rs24.46 on 3m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, sharply higher by Rs6.81 at Rs215.18 also on 3m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS:

D.G. Khan Cement led the list of actives, easy by 99 paisa at Rs26.74 on 0.331m shares followed by OGDC up Rs2.02 at Rs103.61 on 0.329m shares and Azgard Nine, off Rs1.11 at Rs22.01 on 0.205m shares.

National Bank followed them, easy by 67 paisa at Rs78.93 on 0.182m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, steady by five paisa at Rs166.38 on 0.157m shares.

DEFAULTER COUNTER:

The active list on this counter was led by Japan Power, up 11 paisa at Rs1.78 on 49,500 shares, followed by First Invest Modaraba, easy 16 paisa at Rs0.34 on 55,100 shares and Usman Textiles, steady by 20 paisa at Rs1.50 on 19,514 shares.

Unity Modaraba also came in for stray support and was marked up by three paisa at Rs0.22 on 12,310 shares and Quice Foods, lower 14 paisa at Rs1.05 on 16,500 shares. Globe Textiles was quoted higher by Re1 at Rs11.25 on 500 shares, while S.S. Oils fell by 55 paisa at Rs3.95 on 10,500 shares.