KARACHI, April 19: Stocks on Thursday took a long overdue technical breather but ready absorption of selling at dips reflected that the current run-up was not overdone. The KSE 100-share index reacted to close lower by 68.49 points at 12,120.80.
The big question being debated among the analysts is “whether or not the index would keep up its sustained run-up in the coming sessions, the count is yes apparently based on expected higher payouts”.
The market was in a highly overbought position owing to a sustained rise over the last about two weeks and needed correction and that came in the form of profit-selling at the inflated levels.Strong presence of support at the lower levels indicated that the market was poised to resume its upward thrust after having passed through necessary technical corrections.
The KSE 100-share index ended with a fall of 68.49 points at 12,120.80 as compared to 12,189.29 a day earlier as leading base shares, notably OGDC, National Bank and some other came in for active selling and finished lower. The KSE 30-share index suffered a bigger decline of 129.06 points at 15,056.76.
Analysts said leading shares were expected to resume their run up on fresh covering purchases aided by market talk about the pre-bid meeting of the National Investment Trust (NIT) on April 24.
The investor optimism about its privatisation was also well-reflected in an upward revision in the sale and repurchase price of NIT units at Rs55.15 and Rs53.20, up by Rs1.70 and Rs1.60 respectively.
Both the market and the KSE 100-share index could maintain their upward drive to new highs if the pre-bid date was officially confirmed by the NIT or by the Privatisation Commission, analysts said.
It was the follow-up support for the second session in a row in the leading bank and oil shares. Both financial institutions and speculative traders were out to corner those stocks that still having the potential of massive capital gains, analysts said.
It was the weakness of leading oil and bank shares, notably OGDC, National Bank and Pakistan Petroleum, which are said to be on the top of its portfolios, which reversed the market trend temporarily, they added.
Auto shares came in for active support followed by reports of higher earnings and rose under the lead of HinoPak Motors, up by Rs11.55 followed by National Refinery, up by Rs14.60. Other notable gainers included Arif Habib Securities, Central Insurance, IGI Insurance, Fazal Textiles, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Millat Tractors, Bata Pakistan and Pakistan Refinery, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.40 to Rs11.35.
Indus Motors and Colgate Pakistan were leading among the losers, off by Rs10.15 and Rs21.90 followed by Packages, MCB, National Foods, Thal Jute, Lakson Tobacco and Fateh Textiles, off Rs6.50 to Rs10.00.
Trading volume fell to 336m shares from the previous 453m shares as losers held a modest lead over the gainers at 174 to 165, with 37 shares holding on to the last levels.
Askari Bank led the list of actives, up by Rs1.45 at Rs92.20 on 41m shares followed by Bank of Punjab, higher by Rs2 at Rs108.25 on 32m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, unchanged at Rs265.80 after hitting the session’s high at Rs271.35 on 26m shares.
OGDC, off Rs1.65 at Rs122.90 also on 26m shares, National Bank, off Rs4.90 at Rs245.90 on 15m shares PTCL, firm by 25 paisa at Rs49.65 on 10m shares and Hub-Power, higher by 90 paisa at Rs33.65 on 9m shares.
Other actives were led by D.G. Khan Cement, steady 40 paisa on 22m shares followed by TRG Pakistan, up by 35 paisa on 17m shares and Lucky Cement, lower by Rs1.30 on 10m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Bank of Punjab came in for renewed support and was quoted higher by Rs2.20 at Rs108 on 13m shares followed by Askari Bank, up by Rs1.40 at Rs92.40 on 8m shares and National Bank, off Rs5.60 at Rs246 on 7m shares.
OGDC followed them, off Rs1.60 at Rs123.05lon 7m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, steady by 20 paisa at Rs266.60 also on 7m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Norrie Textiles came in for active profit-selling at the higher levels and fell by 20 paisa at Rs3.30 on 0.608m shares followed by Nimir Chemicals, unchanged at Rs2.80 on 0.436m shares and Zeal-Pak Cement, easy five paisa at Rs5.30 on 0.428m shares.