KARACHI, Sept 7: Stocks on Friday suffered fresh pruning across a broad front and fell further under the lead of major bank shares on active selling by some foreign investors ahead of Sharifs brothers scheduled arrival on Monday and fears associated with it, notably on the law and order front. The KSE 100-share index was off by 161 points at 12,406.71.
The perception that their arrival may overshadow the proposed power sharing deal between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, which was widely welcomed by the market earlier, will add to the prevailing political uncertainty. Investors, therefore, sold in panic but failed to find many willing buyers even at the dips in many cases.
The KSE 100-share index shed another 160.67 points or 1.28 per cent at 12,406.67 as compared to 12,567.38 a day earlier as some of the leading base shares came in for fresh pruning. Market capital also fell by Rs44.175bn at Rs3,602.170bn, while KSE 30-share index suffered another large fall of 292.80 points at 15,100.29 points.
Analysts said investors mostly played safe partly owing to weekend considerations and partly to scheduled arrival of the Sharifs brothers on Monday and the likely impact of their arrival on the share business.
But one thing appears certain that sailing may not be that smooth viewed in the backdrop of press statements of the former prime minister and analysts fear there may be a political turmoil after their arrival.
However, some others ruled out the possibility of any major upsets in the current trading pattern as snap sell-off is expected to be followed by a grand rebound the very next day.
“The market’s basic fundamentals are terribly bullish and leading bulls are not inclined to buy the idea of bearish trend at this stage,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti predicts adding that many may not miss the growth potential in the coming months.But they said the positive impact of the proposed power sharing deal between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, which was welcomed by the market may be relegated to a secondary position after the arrival of the Sharifs brothers.
“So the political uncertainty is there and added to it is the apex court verdicts on a number of petitions, which could have far-reaching impact on the future market trend,” analyst Ashraf Zakaria said.
Leading gainers were led by JS Global, National Foods, Treet Corporation and Unilever Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs12.70 to 89.95 followed by Lakson Tobacco, Fazal Textiles, Atlas Honda and Pakistan Engineering, up by Rs5 to 10.
Losses on the other hand were mostly fractional barring MCB, EFU Life, Siemens Pakistan and JS & Co, which were marked down by Rs18.65 to 36. Arif Habib Ltd, National Bank, Javed Omer, Attock Refinery and Mari Gas followed them off by Rs5.50 to 8.20.Trading volume fell to 170m shares from the previous 265m shares as losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 188 to 79, with 32 shares holding on to the last levels.
Lucky Cement topped the list of actives, up by Rs1.90 at Rs120.40 on 18m shares followed by OGDC, lower by 50 paisa at Rs108.75 on 13m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, easy by 50 paisa at Rs102.50 on 12m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, lower by 95 paisa at Rs300.60 on 11m shares, Bank of Punjab, off 4.65 at Rs97.25 on 9m shares, National Bank, sharply lower by Rs6.55 at Rs234.00 on 8m shares and Adamjee Insurance, up one rupee at Rs308 on 6m shares.
Other actives were led by Javed Omer, off Rs5.85 on 8m shares, Bank AlFalah, Rs1.75 also on 8m shares and Al-Abbas Cement up 65 paisa on 6m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Lucky Cement also led the list of actives on the cleared list and was quoted higher by Rs1.90 at Rs120.50 on 11m shares, National Bank, off Rs6.75 at Rs235.25 on 8m shares and MCB, sharply lower by Rs16.20 at Rs319.50 on 6m shares.
D.G.Khan Cement followed them, unchanged at Rs103 on 5m shares and Bank of Punjab, off Rs5.05 at Rs96.70 on 4m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Zeal Pak Cement came in for active profit-taking and was marked down by 10 paisa at Rs5.05 on 0.842m shares followed by Japan Power, up by 40 paisa at Rs9.90 on 0.641m shares and Nimir Chemical, easy by five paisa at Rs3.55 on 0.241m shares.
DIVIDEND: Habib Modaraba, cash 20 per cent, Balochistan Wheels, cash 20 per cent.