KARACHI, March 17: The share market on Monday gave a cautious welcome to the new popularly elected assembly as the KSE 100-share index could not sustain the initial enthusiasm on the perception that the new government will inherit a host of economic and financial problems and there could be possible jolts in the coming months on the issue of inflation ‘monster’. The KSE 100-share index fell by 44.07 points but did not breach the barrier of 15,000 points.
However, long-term economic perceptions are fairly bullish on the belief that the sailing would be smooth after initial challenges were met by the strong coalition governments both at the centre and the provinces, most analysts hope.
The KSE 100-share sustained the psychological barrier of 15,000 at 15,043.40 after having early touched the session’s peak level of 15,137.41 but late selling pushed it down by 44.07 points. The free-float 30 share also fell by 68.91 points at 18,426.63.
Fresh active short-covering in Engro Chemical, PSO, Pakistan Oilfields and some others limited the fall in the index despite active profit-selling in Bank of Punjab, OGDC and Arif Habib Securities.
“Amid fears of a possible standoff in the transfer of power, investors mostly take calculated forward positions as heavy financial risks were involved,” said a broker adding that is “what exactly the maiden oath taking session of the new parliament witnessed”.
There is a loud whispering in the corridors of the bourse that the presidency and the new government could hardly co-exist owing to their respective rigid positions on some of the issues, which may lead to a standoff, some analysts fear and this may lead to absence of foreign investors, who are now planning to re-enter the market.
“There could be jolts here and there, including the nomination of the future prime minister but I don’t foresee any major split in the ruling parties as the dissenting voices are too weak to score a point in the existing context,” said a leading stock analyst.
But investors are expected to play safe and will not indulge in speculative trading until at least the new setup led by a strong prime minister is in place at the centre, he added.
The weakness of the cement sector on active selling weighed heavily against the underlying sentiment as leading among them, notably Lucky Cement and D.G. Khan Cement came in for selling at the higher levels.
Leading gainers were led by EFU Life and JS & Co, up by Rs38.20 and 30, followed by BOC Pakistan, JS Global, Shell Pakistan, Packages, PSO, and EFU General Insurance, which posted gains ranging from Rs9.90 o 26.95.
HinoPak and Siemens Pakistan were the losers, off by 16.95 and 13 respectively. Other prominent losers included Javed Omer, Habib Bank, Adamjee Insurance, IGI Insurance, Pakistan Resource Co, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Lakson Tobacco, Attock Petroleum, Pakistan Engineering, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Siemens Pakistan, Shezan International and Shell Gas, on selling followed by reports of Rs10 per kg cut in retail prices, off by Rs5 to Rs13.
Traded volume fell to 155m shares from the previous 218m shares as leading investors kept the sidelines anticipating some more positive developments on the political front. Losers led gainers by a fair margin at 103, with 26 shares holding on to the last levels.
Engro Chemical topped the list on some positive developments, including its proposed joint venture in setting up a fertiliser plant in Algeria, steady by 40 paisa at Rs334.55 after at one stage having touched the session’s peak at Rs342 on 11m shares.
Pakistan Cement followed it lower 75 paisa at Rs11 on 10m shares, Bank of Punjab, easy by 70 paisa at Rs85.80 on 9m shares, Lucky Cement, off Rs3.75 at Rs134.70 on 8m shares, PSO, sharply higher by Rs18.05 on reports of refixing of retails sales at the higher levels, at Rs538.55 on 7m shares, OGDC, off Rs1.10 at Rs133.10 on 6m shares and D.G. Khan Cement, lower by Rs3.25 at Rs107.90 also on 6m shares.
Other actives were led by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, lower by 55 paisa at Rs45.55 on 7m shares, followed by Arif Habib Securities, off Rs2.95 at Rs170 on 5m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, up by 95 paisa at Rs357.95 on 5m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Bank of Punjab led the list of actives on the cleared list, steady by 10 paisa at Rs70 on 11m shares followed by Engro Chemical, higher by Rs1.30 at Rs335.80 on 6m shares and PSO, sharply higher by Rs14.50 at Rs538 on 6m shares.
MCB Bank followed them, off Rs5.20 at Rs391.80 on 4m shares and Lucky Cement, off Rs3.75 at Rs135.15 on also 4m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Zeal Pak Cement led the list of actives, lower five paisa at Rs4 on 0.842m shares followed by Invest Capital Bank, off 30 paisa at Rs6 on 0.224m shares, Norrie Textiles, easy 10 paisa at Rs1.65 on 0.164m shares and Japan Power, lower 15 paisa at Rs6 on 0.117m shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Pakistan House International on March 18 and Central Insurance on March 20.