KARACHI, Dec 19: Share values on the Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday fell across-the-board on active selling almost on all the counters partly in the form of technical correction and partly to some anti-Kalabagh statements. The KSE index was off 135 points at 9,379.66.

Political crisis may not be around as some of the shaky investors think, although terribly low volume signals some reservations on the part of leading investors. Rawalpindi one-day cricket match between Pakistan and England may have its toll as some enthusiastic cricket lovers preferred to stay away from the market watching the match on their TV sets, brokers said.

The KSE 100-share index, however, received a massive battering on hasty selling by all and sundry on reports of official action against the militants in some of the areas of Balochistan and fears of law and order situation.

Analysts said that another bearish factor was MQM’s anti-Kalabagh dam statement and to go with the Sindh on the issue. The government active efforts to seek national consensus on the issue may receive a major setback, not without some negative political fallout of the MQM refusal to toe the official line on the issue.

But some others said it was essentially a technical correction and had nothing to do with external factors. The market was in a highly overbought position and needed correction and that came in the form of delayed profit-selling.

PTCL managed to look up modestly amid rumours that a negotiating team of Etisalat was here and would hold talks with the government officials on some unresolved issues.

All other heavy weights including National Bank, OGDC, Pakistan Petroleum, and D.G. Khan Cement came in for active selling at the higher levels and fell under the lead of MCB, which was quoted sharply lower by Rs7.25 at Rs163.

The KSE 100-share index suffered a sharp fall of 135.17 points at 9,379.66, close to its session’s low as compared to 9,514.83 at the last weekend. It has crossed the barrier of 9,600 last week but failed to sustain it on late selling.

“I don’t think the current run-up is overdone”, says a leading broker, adding “year-end buying and portfolio adjustment has still to make its debut and there is no reason to believe to entertain bearish stock market outlook”.

“It was a tactical selling by some big ones to push down prices of selected scrips to their pre-determined levels and then to covering year-end short positions on some of the counters”, some others said.

The low daily volume also reflected that investors were not inclined to square their positions as they were eyeing a bull-run during the next couple of sessions irrespective of negative political news.

Minus signs dominated the list under the lead of oil shares and some other blue chips. Prominent losers included Mustehkam Cement, MCB, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co, Artistic Denim, National Refinery, Pakistan Refinery, Pakistan Oilfields, International Industries, Zulfiqar Industries, Lakson Tobacco, Shell Gas, and Siemens Pakistan, off Rs7 to Rs18.25.

Advancing shares trailed far behind, but fell fractionally barring Shahtaj Sugar, Sapphire Fibre, EFU General, HinoPak Motors, Unilever Pakistan, Millat Tractors, Wyeth Pakistan and Shell Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs3.70 to Rs13.

Trading volume fell to 229m shares from the previous 418m shares as losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 279 to 102, with 29 shares holding on to the last levels.

PTCL topped the list of actives, up by 55 paisa at Rs64.95 on 33m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, lower 55 paisa at Rs102.20 on 21m shares, National Bank, off Rs2.55 at Rs193.25 on 17m shares, MCB, sharply lower by Rs7.25 at Rs163 on 14m shares, PIAC, easy 10 paisa at Rs11.55 on 9m shares, OGDC, off Rs2 at Rs114.65 on 8m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, lower Rs1.40 on 6m shares.

Other actives were led by Telecard, off Re1 on 9m shares, Lucky Cement, steady 15 paisa on 8m shares and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, lower by Re1 also on 8m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: D.G.Khan Cement remained under pressure and fell further by 65 paisa at Rs103 on 12m shares followed by National Bank, lower Rs3.35 at Rs193.50 on 8m shares and MCB, sharply lower by Rs7.20 at Rs163.75 on 7m shares.