KARACHI, June 14: The KSE 100-share index on Thursday briefly breached through the barrier of 13,500 points on early strong follow-up support but failed to sustain it owing to selling in some of the pivotals at the fag-end of the session.
Its initial buoyant mood was well reflected in its better performance as it soared by 134 points and broke the barrier of 13,500 points at 13,613.26, although late selling in the overvalued cement and bank shares pushed it lower to finish with a modest fall of 14.78 points at 13,462.46.
The KSE 30-share index on the other hand posted a fall of 69.82 points at 16,861.43 points on selling in some of the heavily-capitalised shares.
A heavy volume of well over 400m shares reflects that the foreign investors are still very much in the market but unlike the previous sessions they indulged in alternate bouts of buying and selling, floor brokers said.
The large volume also shows a major shift in investor portfolio investment buying as some of the low-priced shares, notably TRG Pakistan and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim. Both came in for active short-covering and assumed the role of most actives, pushing the legendary volume leaders to the secondary position.But on the other hand overvalued shares including National Bank, Bank of Punjab, Bank AlFalah and D.G.Khan Cement came in for active profit-selling and ended lower.
“There may be more than one reason behind the market’s sudden retreat from the initial peak levels, notably among them was said to be capped CFS, which in some cases forced selling to clear the dues,” said leading analyst.
But some other said owing to last couple of weeks’ sustained run-up, notably after the breach of the index level of 13,000 points and post-budget buying euphoria the market was in an overbought position and needed correction and this is steadily creeping in.
Leading gainers were led by Pakistan Services, and Colgate Pakistan, up by Rs18.50 and 22 followed by Al-Ghazi Tractors, Clariant Pakistan, Packages, EFU General, EFU Life Insurance, Pakistan Cables, Sanofi-Aventis and JS & Co, which posted gains ranging from Rs955 to 16.10. Rafhan Maize and Siemens Pakistan were leading among the losers, off Rs44 and 76. Other prominent losers included Arif Habib Ltd, Sapphire Fibres, Adamjee Insurance, Shell Gas, Thal Jute, which fell by Rs8.65 to 11.
Trading volume rose to 429m shares from the previous 426m shares as gainers maintained a modest lead over the losers at 186 to 180,with 44 shares holding on to the last levels.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim topped the list of actives, up by Rs1.65 at Rs38.70 on 51m shares, followed by TRG Pakistan, firm by 50 paisa at Rs13.70 on 32m shares, Askari Bank, steady by 55 paisa at Rs101.50 on 24m shares, Lucky Cement, firm by 15 paisa at Rs122.55 on 22m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, off Rs2.40 at Rs116.10 on 19m shares, Bank AlFalah, lower Rs1.45 at Rs57.50 on 19m shares and National Bank, off Rs3.25 at Rs257.20 on 16m shares.
Other actives were led by Bank of Punjab, off Rs2.45 on 16m shares, Engro Chemical, higher by Rs4.50 on 15m shares and Pakistan Cement, lower by 90 paisa on 14m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Lucky Cement led the list of actives on this counter, off 80 paisa at Rs122 on 11m shares followed by D.G.Khan Cement, off Rs2.45 at Rs116.70 on 10m shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, higher by Rs1.35 at Rs38.75 on 7m shares.
Bank AlFalah followed them, lower by Rs1.60 at Rs57.70 on 6m shares and National Bank, off Rs2.50 at Rs258.75 also on 6m shares.
DEAFAULTER COS: Norrie Textiles came in for active support and rose by 35 paisa at Rs2.65 on 4.482m shares followed by Nimir Chemical, up by 50 paisa at Rs3.95 on 4.170m shares and Japan Power, steady by 20 paisa at Rs4.70 on 0.458m shares. Zeal Pak Cement was also actively traded, lower 15 paisa at Rs5.15 on 0.449m shares.
Some others including Shakarganj Foods, Asset Bank and Unity Modaraba were also actively traded but mostly on the lower side on selling.