KARACHI, Jan 16: Stocks on Wednesday finished on a mixed note as investors were not inclined to take long positions and played safe apparently awaiting the outcome of Colin Powell’s peace mission to end military standoff between Pakistan and India.
Bulk of the alternate bouts of buying and selling remained confined to Hub-Power and PTCL, which together accounted for 118m shares, out of the total volume of 146m shares.
“Despite some bullish fundamentals, the market’s near-term direction will largely be guided whether or not the Colin Powell, now on a mediation mission, could win peace,” says a leading stock broker.
It was virtually a repeat performance by the KSE 100-share index, which after early rising by 15 points on the strength of the leading base shares later ended with a fractional gain of 1.89 points at 1,428.10 as compared to 1,427.96 a day earlier.
Worries about the prevailing border situation are there but most investors hope the visit of the US foreign secretary Colin Powell could defuse the current border tension between Pakistan and India.
“The troop withdrawal may take quite sometime but Powell could broker a tentative peace plan after having talks with both the contenders,” stock analysts at the W.E.Financial believe.
Pakistan has already gone an extra mile to meet the international demands against terrorism but goal of peace still appears elusive, they said adding return to peace positions by the respective troops could give the much-needed breather to the shaky investors.
Stock analysts at the Moosani Securities also predict that the market’s future direction will be guided by the outcome of Powell’s peace mission.
However, despite external factors still being the dominant force behind the market’s direction, buying interest remained broad-based as investors are shifting their investment from the high-profile issues to the second- liners or undervalued shares.
The general perception is that low-priced shares ensure capital appreciation after the market is out of the current impasse including fears of war.
Price changes on the ready counter were fractional barring some exceptions including Pak Reinsurance, which posted a fresh gain of Rs.24.50, followed by Al-Ghazi Tractors, Dawood Hercules, Gul Ahmed Textiles and Millat Tractors, which rose by Rs.1.05 to 2.10.
Losers were led by IGI Insurance, Javed Omer, Apollo Textiles, Kohinoor Weaving, Shams Textiles, Cherat Paper, Shell Pakistan, Lever Brothers and Fateh Textiles, off one rupee to Rs.4.
Traded volume fell below the 200m share mark at 146m shares as losers forced a fair lead over the gainers at 95 to 67, out of 207 actives.
PTCL again led the list of most actives, up 25 paisa at Rs.20.60 on 88m shares followed by the PTCL, firm by five paisa at Rs.16.05 on 30m shares, PSO, off 85 paisa at Rs.99.40 on 7m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, easy five paisa at Rs.4.35 on 3m shares and Sui Northern, up 10 paisa at Rs.10.20 on 3m shares.
Other actives were led by Dewan Salman, up 40 paisa on 1.875m shares, Engro Chemical, lower 15 paisa on 1.773m shares, Fauji Fertilizer, firm 15 paisa on 1.712m shares, Bank of Punjab, higher 45 paisa on 1.536m shares and MCB, easy five paisa on 1.513m shares.
FUTURE CONTRACTS: Bulk of the activity on this counter remained confined to PTCL and Hub-Power, up 10 and 15 paisa at Rs.16.15 and 20.60 on 1.919m and 3.746m shares respectively.
Among the leading gainers, Fauji Fertilizer was prominent, up one rupee at Rs.45 on 500 shares, while PSO led the losers, off 75 paisa at Rs.99.75 on 0.909m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Shares of six companies came in for trading under the lead of Suzuki Motorcycle, up 20 paisa at Rs.1.40 on 6,000 shares followed by National Modaraba, firm by five paisa at Rs.0.65 on 5,000 shares and Al-Asif Sugar, unchanged at Rs.1 on 1,000 shares.
NATIONAL BANK: Owing to proximity of its formal listing on the stock exchanges, it came in for renewed strong speculative support and added another 80 paisa to the overnight gain at Rs.14.60. Over 7m shares changed hands mostly at the day’s peak of Rs.14.75. It touched the lowest for the day at Rs.14.