KARACHI, Jan 22: Stocks on Wednesday remained under pressure for the second session in a row followed by renewed selling but there were buyers at dips, who restricted the market decline. The KSE 100-share index shed another 55.92 points or two per cent at 2,739.11, eroding Rs11.544bn from the market capitalization.

Some analysts said it was essentially the weakness of the forward counter, which spilled over to the ready section in sympathy and done a major damage to the rising market.

Speculative issues on the forward counter received fresh massive battering as bears were not inclined to give a breathing space to the bulls despite their attempted rallies to drive them out and dominated the trading.

An idea of the grim bear and bull fight may well be had from the fact that the KSE 100-share index touched the highest at 2,815.00 and the lowest at 2,735 before finishing slightly better at 2,739.11, off 55.92 points or 2.5 per cent.

Opinions are divided over the future direction of the market but most leading analysts predict bulls who are trapped in the number game after having chased prices to a record levels may not allow bears to stay for a longer period owing to losses being at the receiving end.

Many reasons could be cited to reinforce the idea of renewed bear onslaught but the fact is that the rising market fell victim to a record carryover business and its allied problems, brokers said.

The other supporting reason could be that the market may have risen beyond its economic and financial mandate and being in a highly overbought position it needed a technical correction that came in the form of near-panic selling, they added.

“I don’t call the market’s current run-up was speculative, it was certainly beyond the ambit of the prevailing internal and external conditions and needs to be checked alone on technical grounds,” they said.

But some leading analysts are not inclined to entertain bearish ideas at this time as leading investors and financial institutions will ride the bandwagon after mega issues announce their corporate results for the year ending Dec 31, 2002.

“The current run-up is not overdone as yet,” they claim “bulls are bracing to strike back at the lower levels during the next couple of days.”

All the leading shares, notably in the energy, chemical and auto sectors led the market decline on active profit-selling at the higher levels, leading losers being Dawood Hercules, PSO, Pakistan Oilfields, Unilever Pakistan and Shell Pakistan, off Rs5 to Rs22, largest fall being in Shell Pakistan.

Other prominent losers included Javed Omer, Adamjee Insurance, Attock Refinery, Pakistan Refinery, ICI Pakistan, Engro Chemical and Crescent Steel, off Rs2.85 to Rs5.

Some of the blue chips managed to put on fresh good gains, major gainers among them being Abbott Lab after the announcement of 30 per cent final dividend (15 per cent interim already paid) plus 10 per cent bonus shares, Shafiq Textiles, Honda Atlas, Shell Gas and Pakistan Reinsurance Co, up Rs2.05 to Rs8.95. National Refinery, Kohinoor Sugar and Shahtaj Sugar also showed good gains.

Trading volume fell to 372m shares, reflecting the absence of sellers at the decline. Losers again outpaced gainers at 192 to 99, with 47 shares holding on to the last levels.

Hub-Power again came in for strong selling and fell by 65 paisa at Rs37 on 117m shares followed by PTCL, lower 35 paisa at Rs23.80 on 53m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, lower 40 paisa at Rs11.80 on 32m shares, PSO, off Rs9.45 at Rs217.50 on 30m shares and Sui Northern, off Rs1.10 at Rs24.40 on 25m shares.

Other actives were led by KESC, easy five paisa on 15m shares, Pak PTA, up 30 paisa on 14m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, off Rs10.35 on 10m shares, Fauji Fertilizer, lower Rs1.75 on 9m shares and Telecard, easy 45 paisa on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Hub-Power came in for heavy selling and fell by 60 paisa at Rs37.35 on 32m shares followed by PSO, off Rs10 at Rs218.50 on 16m shares and PTCL, lower 45 paisa at Rs23.85 on 10m shares.