KARACHI, April 11: The recent downward drift was halted on the stock market on Thursday as investors covered positions in most of the pivotals, putting it back on the rails amid light trading. The KSE index recovered 17.56 points at 1,843.70.
Bulk of the support is claimed to have originated from the financial institutions, sending signals among the hereto shaky investors that the “political dust raised by the proposed presidential referendum despite being controversial is expected to settle down in due course,” says a floor broker.
“The presidential referendum may be controversial in legal terms, but it certainly has more plus points for the investing public than the negative ones and that is perhaps why big business is supporting this,” he adds.
But what worries general investors is the possible boycott by the leading political parties and strike call by them on that day, which could lead to law and order situation, some others said.
The KSE 100-share index, which has fallen to recent lows during the last couple of sessions rose by 17.56 points at 1,842.70 as compared to 1,826.14 a day earlier, reflecting the relative strength of leading base shares, notably PTCL, Hub-Power and PSO.
But the trading volume failed to keep pace with the rising buying offers as both the leading bulls and bears preferred to stay away, awaiting fresh developments on the referendum front.
“The recovery reflects a minor technical correction but in no way ensures that the market has pulled itself from the impasse of the presidential referendum and allied uncertainty,” stock analysts at Al-Mal Securities believe.
The near-term outlook still appears uncertain as nobody could precisely predict how the market will behave even tomorrow, they added.
Stock analysts at the Moosani Securities say the market is still in an overbought position and its direction will largely be guided by the behaviour of the bears.
“Institutional traders are considered market trend setters, the important thing is consistency in their presence, which is lacking,” says a KSE member.
Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of Sana Industries, Pakistan Gum Chemicals, Javed Omer Vohra and Lever Brothers, which posted gains ranging from Rs2 to Rs13.
The market recovery was led by the textile sector, where leading shares rose in unison amid reports of a steady pick up in exports, leading gainers among them being Al-Hamd Textiles, Aysha Textiles Din Textiles, Nafees Cotton, Valika Art Farics and several others, rising by Rs1.40 to Rs1.75.
PSO, Pakistan Tobacco, Balochistan Wheels, Ghandhara, BOC Pakistan, and Reckitt Benckise and Crescent Steels were among the others, which rose by Rs1.35 to Rs1.55.
Losers were led by Fateh Textiles, which suffered a fresh fall of Rs15.10 followed by PICIC Commercial Bank, Pakistan Refinery, Wyeth Lab, Dawood Hercules, Ghani Glass, Blessed Textiles and some others, falling by Rs1.05 to Rs1.90.
It was perhaps in this background that the activity remained slow as the volume figure stood below the 100m share mark at 97m shares, although gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 203 to 86, with 42 shares remaining unchanged.
The most active list was topped by FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, up 55 paisa at Rs7.65 on active short-covering aided by market talk of a financial bailout package, followed by PTCL higher 25 paisa at Rs18.50 on 16m shares, Hub-Power, up also by 25 paisa at Rs23.95 on 15.551m shares, National Bank, higher by 65 paisa at Rs23.20 on 6m shares and PSO, up Rs1.30 at Rs157.30 also on 6m shares and Dewan Salman, firm by 40 paisa at Rs18.30 also on 5m shares.
Other actives were led by ICI Pakistan, up 35 paisa on 4m shares, Sui Northern, firm by 15 paisa on 3m shares, Engro Chemical, higher 70 paisa on 2.240m shares and Dewan Motors, steady five paisa on 2.100m shares.
FUTURE CONTRACTS: Forward shares also followed the lead of the ready counter where prices rose under the lead of PSO, up Rs1.35 at Rs158.35 on 0.744m shares.
Hub-Power was again actively traded, up 20 paisa at Rs24.05 on 2.754m shares, PTCL, higher 15 paisa at Rs18.55 on 1.023m shares and FFC-Jordan Fertiliser, higher 50 paisa at Rs7.70 on 1.362m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Shares of 10 companies came in for trading, the most active them being Suzuki Motorcycles, up 10 paisa at Rs3 on 12,000 shares followed by National Modaraba, easy five paisa at Re0.75, Crescent Spinning, lower five paisa at Rs4.70 on 5,000 shares and Metropolitan Steel, up 35 paisa at Rs2.75 also on 5,000 shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Sigma Leasing, Trust Securities on April 12; Arif Habib Securities, Nestel MilkPak on April 15; Polypropylene Products, Network Leasing, National Foods, Kashmir Edile Oil, on April 17; First General Leasing Modaraba, Habib Modaraba, Clover Pakistan, Merit Packaging on April 18; Lakson Tobacco, Guardian Modaraba, Industrial Capital Modaraba, B.R.R.International Modaraba, Colgate Palmolive on April 19; Pakistan Paper Products, Pak-Apex Leasing, on April 20; Pakistan Venture Capital on April 23; Siemens Engineering Pakistan on April 24 and Dawood Leasing on April 26.