KARACHI, Aug 30: Blue-chips on Monday fell across the board on renewed selling by some of the leading investors amid a loud whispering that the re-launching of Margin Financing System (MTS) has been politicised beyond its technical scope and has literally assumed the proportions of “to be or not to be”, said a leading analyst.

There was no trace of the weekend rally after the trading resumed as selling pressure continued and the benchmark KSE 100-index was off by 82.29 points at 9,516.42 while its junior partner the KSE 30-index was down by 61.34 points at 9,372.08.

Most of the leading base shares, notably MCB Bank, OGDC, PSO, National Bank, Engro Corporation and some others led the market decline on renewed profit-selling.

“Broker temperatures on the leverage product issue have soared beyond the boiling point,” speculates analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali and warns the lava may erupt any time and may engulf the entire system.

He said several brokers now seemingly stand unified against deliberate delay in the re-launching of the ready board leverage product and further dented the traded volume and the value of traded shares.

But analyst Ahsan Mehanti said apart from the delay in MTS introduction, some other issues on the economic front in the backdrop of massive losses to the farm and corporate sectors have also negative impact on stock trading.

That is perhaps why a final dividend at the rate of Rs10 per share on EPS at Rs43.81 failed to find favour with the investors as was reflected in sharp decline in share value of Indus Motor on post-dividend activity, he said.

“Investors have money but they don’t want to expose to undue risks and that is a crucial issue which needs objective analysis apart from the MTS,” he said.

He said both the local institutional traders and some foreign investors were there but their stake was too small to set the market trend and just appeared to be of jobbing nature.

Leading gainers were led by Fazal Textiles, Siemens Pakistan and Indus Dyeing, up by Rs11.23 to Rs14.58 followed by Ferozsons Lab, Sanofi-Aventis, Sapphire Fibre and Pak Datacom, up by Rs4.12 to Rs5.05.

Prominent losers were led by Colgate Pakistan, Unilever Pakistan, Nestle Pakistan, and Service Industries, which suffered fall ranging from Rs10.25 to Rs72.01 followed by Indus Motors, Clariant Pakistan, HinoPak Motors and Wyeth Pakistan, which fell by Rs4.48 to Rs8.17.

Traded volume was maintained at the previous level of 37m shares but losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 218 to 100, with 23 shares holding on to the last levels.

The active list was again led by Lotte Pakistan, lower by 27 paisa at Rs8.04 on 4m shares followed by JS & Co, off 44 paisa at Rs9.61 on 3m shares, WorldCall Telecom, easy four paisa at Rs2.45 on 2m shares and Arif Habib Securities, lower by 17 paisa at Rs22.41 on 2m shares.

NIB Bank, lower by 33 paisa at Rs2.45 also on 2m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, off 88 paisa at Rs23.22 on 2m shares and Silkbank, up by 65 paisa at Rs2.72 on 1.5m shares.

MCB Bank followed them, off Rs2.07 at Rs182.57 on 1.17m shares, Azgard Nine, lower by 78 paisa at Rs9 on 1m shares and Amtex, steady by 33 paisa at Rs18.33 on 0.912m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS: MCB Bank led the list of actives followed by active selling, off Rs1.29 at Rs179.05 on 0.22m shares followed by Azgard Nine, lower by 75 paisa at Rs9.05 on 0.204m shares and Nishat Mills, off Rs2.12 at Rs41.22 on 0.175m shares.

National Bank followed them, lower by 14 paisa at Rs61.57 on 0.163m shares and PSO, off by Rs2.38 at Rs233.07 on 0.130m shares.

The notable feature was resumption of trading in the September settlements after the liquidation of matured August contracts.

DEFAULTER COMPNAINES: Japan led the list of actives, lower by four paisa at Rs1.41 on 74,606 shares followed by Hajra Textiles, unchanged at Rs0.50 on 15,000 shares and Crescent Modaraba, up eight paisa at Rs0.50 on 12,547 shares.