KARACHI, Aug 1: Stocks on Friday fell across the board, like house of cards, on nervous selling followed by rumours of margin calls on a couple of brokers who reportedly failed to meet their clearing obligations owing to a steep fall in the share values under the lead of blue chips amid a galore of lower locks.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index took another massive plunge during the current week and was marked down by 412.19 points or 3.89 per cent at 10,171.39, eroding Rs123.417 billion from the market capital at Rs3,178.490 billion. Its junior partner was off by 553.81 points or 4.61 per cent at 11,447.86.

However, till the fag-end of the session, there was no official word on the rumour of margin calls but a sharp fall in leading oil shares, notably OGDC, Pakistan Petroleum, MCB Bank and Arif Habib Securities, reflects that the latest market fall may have created some financial problems leading to margin calls, analyst Ashraf Zakaria, commenting on the rumours, said.

Most of the leading shares again fell below their lower locks giving credence to rumours of margin calls and consequent panic well reflected in widespread losses.

The sell-off was further accelerated by reports that leading credit rating agencies have indicated to some leading brokerage houses to lower Pakistan credit rating, as reserves, during the last couple of months, had dropped to an alarming level in the backdrop of about a 17 per cent fall in the value of rupee against the US dollar, said a leading analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali.

News from the FATA front are not that encouraging, analyst Ahsan Mehanti said, adding “the falling SCRA balance reflects that foreign investors are their way out after unloading their long positions even on the blue chip counters.”

Floor brokers said that a steep fall in the turnover figure to 73 million from the overnight total of 115 million shares showed that even leading investors and institutional traders are not inclined to take fresh positions at falling prices.

“The perception of capital gains at the current lower levels seems to have no relevance in the prevailing turmoil, both on political and financial fronts as investors are trying to get out of the market to invest somewhere else where their money is safe and can appreciate.”

Unilever Pakistan and Sazgar Engineering managed to finish higher by Rs20 and 3.24 in a falling market followed by Clover Pakistan, Javedan Cement and Indus Motors, up by one rupee to Rs2.97, while others rose fractionally.

Losers were led by PSO and Shell Pakistan whose margins were capped off Rs18.86

and 18.05 respectively. Other prominent losers included Adamjee Insurance, MCB Bank, EFU General, Attock Petroleum, Mari Gas, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum, Engro Chemical, Dawood Hercules, National Foods, Shezan International and JS & Co, which suffered fall, ranging from Rs10.35 to Rs17.61.

Trading volume fell below the 100m share mark at 73 million shares as losers held a strong lead over gainer at 223 to only 35, with 20 shares holding on to the last levels.

NIB Bank led the list of actives, lower by 90 paisa at Rs8.98 on 8m shares followed by Bank of Punjab, up by Rs1.56 at Rs33.21 on 7m shares, OGDC, sharply lower by Rs5.76 at Rs109.54 on 4m shares, TRG Pakistan, easy 52 paisa at Rs4.03 on 3m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs10.57 at Rs200.93 also on 3m shares, and Arif Habib Securities, sharply lower by Rs6.78 at Rs126.99 on 2m shares.

Other actives were led by Zeal-Pak Cement, easy by 27 paisa at Rs1.70 on 7m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, lower by 29 paisa at Rs9.75 on 3m shares, and Azgard Nine, off Rs2.24 at Rs42.56 on 2m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: NIB Bank also led the list of actives on the cleared list, lower by one rupee at Rs9.07 on 2m shares followed by Descon Oxychem, easy 97 paisa at Rs11.88 also on 2m shares, and OGDC, off Rs5.77 at Rs109.73 on 2m shares.

Bank of Punjab followed them, up by Rs1.59 at Rs33.54 on 1m shares and MCB Bank, sharply lower by Rs13.64 at Rs259.35 on 0.421m shares.

DEFAULTER COs: Norrie Textiles led the list of actives, lower by three paisa at Rs1.72 on 1.09m shares followed by

Unity Modaraba, easy by 15 paisa at 75 paisa on 0.127m shares and Japan Power, up 24 paisa at Rs5.04 on 0.114m shares.

BONUS SHARES: Crescent Steel and Allied Products, bonus shares at the rate of 10 per cent for the year ended June 30, 2008.