KARACHI, Nov 15: Political uncertainty continued to take its toll on the share market on Thursday as a section of leading investors, including some foreign ones sought an honorable exit but failed to find willing buyers even at the declining prices. The KSE 100-share index shed another 204 points at 13,110.81.
Stocks, therefore, suffered fresh widespread fall on unloading of long positions in the backdrop of negative news coming in quick succession but institutional traders failed to come to the aid of a falling market.
The KSE 100-share index suffered a fresh sharp setback of 204.45 points at 13,110.81 after at one stage having breached through the barrier of 13,000 points at 12,982.18. Its junior partner KSE 30-share index also fell by 301.53 points at 15,580.03.During the last four sessions, it has dropped by 6 per cent or about 800 points eroding Rs230 billion from the market capital, a massive loss judged by any standard, the chief toll taker being political uncertainty.
The leading base shares, notably MCB, National Bank, Attock Refinery, Pakistan Petroleum, Engro Chemical and Bank of Punjab were prominent among the losers.
“The market is now in a real trouble,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti predicted adding “but the decline is orderly giving a breathing space to those who are inclined to get out of it.”
The exit of the current political setup on Thursday midnight, worries about the financial policies of the caretakers and the election uncertainties continue to weigh heavily against the underlying sentiment, he added.
But another leading analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali said foreign investors were awaiting further developments on the political front before taking corrective steps to avert financial losses.
“Some of them are already on their way out but outflow of about $135 billion from the market out of the total of $900 million is not that an alarming figure at this stage,” he said “but next in a developing situation is anybody’s guess.”
Minus signs dominated the list under the lead of oil, insurance and auto shares, notable losers among them being EFU Life Insurance and JS & Co, off by Rs22.40 and 27.90, followed by Millat Tractors, Wyeth Pakistan, Adamjee Insurance, EFU Life, Attock Refinery, National Refinery, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Pakistan Indus Motors and Pak-Suzuki Motors, which suffered fall ranging from Rs10 to 19.15.
Bata Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, among the MNCs managed to finish higher by Rs20.95 and 21, respectively. Other good gainers were led by Pakistan Engineering, HinoPak, Gillette Pakistan, Nestle Pakistan, KSB Pumps, Lakson Tobacco and JS Global, which posted gains ranging from Rs6.25 to 11.90.
Trading volume shrank to 192m shares as there were more sellers than buyers from 250 million shares a day earlier, while losers topped gainers by 261 to 72, with 29 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC came in for modest short-covering at the lower level and led the list of actives, up by 75 paisa at Rs114.90 on 18m shares followed by TRG Pakistan, unchanged at Rs12.45 on 15m shares, Attock Refinery, sharply lower by Rs13.30 at Rs252.70 on 15m shares, National Bank, off Rs4.45 at Rs228.00 on 10m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, Rs3.70 at Rs86.50 on 8m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, lower by Rs4.10 at Rs235.80 on 7m shares, Bank of Punjab, off Rs2.15 at Rs91.65 also on 7m shares and Engro Chemical, easy by Rs7.55 at Rs254.50 on 5m shares.
Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, off by Rs5 on 6m shares, and NIB Bank, lower 75 paisa also on 6m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank led the list of actives on the cleared list and was quoted lower by Rs4.15 at Rs229.95 on 8m shares, followed by MCB, off by Rs6.90 at Rs344 also on 8m shares and Lucky Cement, lower by Rs4.45 at Rs111.75 on 7m shares.Pakistan Petroleum followed them, off Rs4.30 at Rs236.50 on 5m shares and OGDC, up by 70 paisa at Rs115.70 also on 5m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Zeal Pak Cement came in for active selling and was marked down by 10 paisa at Rs4.60 on 3.895m shares followed by Unity Modaraba, unchanged at one rupee on 1.751m shares and Japan Power, unchanged at Rs8.20 on 0.821m shares.
InterAsia Leasing followed them, up 10 paisa at Rs1.55 on 0.287m shares, Norrie Textiles, also unchanged at Rs1.80 on 0.169m shares and Invest Capital Bank, up five paisa at Rs6.70 on 0.140m shares.