KARACHI, Feb 12: Stocks on Monday received a massive battering followed by long overdue technical correction at the highly inflated levels but after mid-session bulls were back in the market and covered positions at the dips. The KSE 100-share index was off 215 points, eroding Rs54.bn from the market capital at Rs3,173bn.

Bulk of the profit-selling was, however, confined to the overvalued shares as bears fought back after having been at the receiving end for the last seven weeks.

However, bulls did not look beyond the overdue correction and say rebound at the current lows could manifest itself in a bigger way any time as the general perception is to stay above the index level of 12,000 points in future trading.

After opening 82 points higher, the KSE 100-share index suffered a massive pruning of 214.90 points at 11,629.75 points as compared to previous 11,844.65 points at the last weekend as all the leading base shares fell like a house of cards. It hit the day’s highest and the lowest at 11,926.39 and 11,615.45 respectively.

An idea of hasty sell-off may well be had from the fact that some of the leading base shares finished well above their upper locks under the lead of National Bank. It was off by Rs11.10 at Rs281.90 on 14m shares. OGDC and PTCL followed them being leading among the base shares.

“The technical correction was long overdue as bulls had been successful in extending the rally on massively borrowed funds from the CFS market,” leading analyst Ashraf Zakaria said “as the highly inflated levels ensured higher capital gains profit-selling followed”.

Leading analysts had been predicting a massive sell-off at the fag-end of the last week and asked the day traders and short-term dealers to get out of the market those who followed their advice were saved from financial risks.

“The market has risen beyond its technical mandate for the last seven consecutive weeks and needed correction that came with a bang, although the weekend session had indicated about the possible bear-run,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti said.

But some others said as there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the background news, the market has the capacity and the will to rise again after meeting its technical demands. The next couple of sessions could be very crucial for its future direction.

Plus signs trailed far behind the losers, although some of the leading shares managed to put on fresh gains under the lead of IGI Insurance and Rafhan Bestfoods, up Rs20.30 and Rs32. They were followed by Mirpurkhas Sugar, Jahangir Siddiqui Fund, United Sugar, HinoPak, Gillette Pakistan, National Foods and Treet Corporation, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.05 to Rs12.40.

MCB and Rafhan Maize fell by Rs15.50 and Rs60 followed by Arif Habib Securities, National Bank, Pakistan Oilfields, Attock Petroleum, Pakistan Petroleum, Abbott Lab and EFU Life, off by Rs6.25 to Rs14.25.

Trading volume suffered sharp contraction at 205m shares as investors were not inclined to sell at the falling prices and held on to their positions. Losers forced a strong lead over the gainers at 209 to 119, with 36 shares holding on to the last levels.

PTCL topped the list of most actives, off Rs1.75 at Rs59.60 on 29m shares followed by D.G. Khan Cement, lower Rs1.25 at Rs82.25 on 29m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by Rs1.10 at Rs123.60 on 21m shares, OGDC, Rs2.80 at Rs126.95 on 21m shares, PICIC, up by 90 paisa at Rs70.30 on 15m shares, National Bank, sharply lower by Rs11.10 at Rs281.90 on 14m shares, Kot Addu Power, higher by 60 paisa at Rs54.50 also on 14m shares.

Other actives were led by Hub-Power, up by Re1 on 12m shares, Lucky Cement, off Rs1.15 on 10m shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, off Re1 on 9m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank led the list of actives on this counter, off by Rs11.20 at Rs283 on 11m shares followed by PTCL, lower by Rs2.05 at Rs59.85 on 10m shares and OGDC, off Rs3 at Rs127.10 on 9m shares.