KARACHI, July 7: Stocks on Friday turned mixed as investors played on both sides of the fence indulging in alternate bouts of buying and selling in the afternoon session but selling was well-absorbed at the dips.
The KSE 100-share index was off 80.04 points at 9,836.04 as compared to previous 9,918.08 as leading base shares, notably OGDC, National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum and some other ended lower.
After a higher start, some of the leading stocks ran into profit-selling at the inflated levels followed by reports that the National Assembly probe committee on last year’s March market crash resumed discussions on Friday on the issue and to name the violators of the trading rules.
What seem to have created panic-like conditions on the weekend session were reports that the US forensic investigators have joined the National Assembly team to assist it in the probe. The findings of the current probe are expected to be made public.
According to initial probe reports the market crash in March last year had wiped out $15bn of small and genuine investors from the total market capital.
“I don’t think the probe could cause massive ripples in the market,” predicts a leading stock analyst, adding “much of its negative fallout had already been absorbed at that time”.
KSE 100-share index’s meteoric rise to its all-time peak level of 12,336 during the post-crash months reflected that investors were not deterred and actively participated in stock trading.
The KSE 100-share index suffered a fresh fall after having risen in early trading on active fresh buying in the bank, cement and oil shares, but some rethinking on the probe committee meeting and its outcome together with weekend considerations triggered selling by some leading brokers.
Unlike the previous session, much of the activity remained confined to the cement sector, where low-priced among them were actively traded as investors covered positions in them for quick capital gains.
Oil and bank shares also performed well but late-selling allowed them to finish with modest decline and so did some other leading shares on the other counters.
Leading gainers were led by Shell Gas and Colgate Pakistan, up by Rs10 and Rs17, followed by Javed Omer, PICIC, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Packages, Pakistan Paper Products and Clover Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs2.25 to Rs3.75.
Unilever Pakistan and Jahangir Siddiqui Capital Fund were marked down by Rs9 and Rs9.85. Other leading losers were MCB, Lakson Tobacco, PSO, Mustehkam Cement, Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields, HinoPak,
Millat Tractors, Pak-Suzuki Motors and National Refinery, off Rs4 to Rs7.75.
Trading volume suffered a sharp contraction at 174m shares from the previous 222m shares but gainers maintained a slight edge over the losers at 128 to 113, with 28 shares holding on to the last levels.
D.G. Khan Cement led the list of actives, off 95 paisa at Rs90 on 27m shares followed by National Bank, easy 25 paisa at Rs225.50 on 18m shares, Lucky Cement, off Rs2.60 at Rs107 on 16m shares, Fauji Cement, up by Re1 at Rs20.50 on 16m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by 90 paisa at Rs84.65 on 14m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs3.75 at Rs210.75 on 10m shares and OGDC, lower Rs2.10 at Rs130 also on 10m shares.
Other actives were led by Dewan Cement, firm 15 paisa on 7m shares, MCB, off Rs5.50 on 6m shares and Pakistan Cement, up 35 paisa on 4m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: D.G. Khan Cement also came in for active selling on the cleared list and was quoted lower by 80 paisa at Rs90.20 on 6m shares followed by National Bank, off 90 paisa at Rs225.90 also on 6m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, lower by Rs2.10 at Rs212.45 on 5m shares.
They were followed by Lucky Cement, lower Rs2.70 at Rs107.20 on 3m shares and OGDC, easy Rs1.85 at Rs130.85 also on 3m shares. Others were modestly traded mostly on the lower side.
DEFAULTER COS: Trading on this counter was slow owing to weekend considerations and prices generally ended mixed. Crescent Standard Bank was leading among them, lower by 10 paisa at Rs4 on 0.365m shares.