KARACHI, Oct 9: The stock market on Thursday turned in an improved performance followed by positive official statements on the economy and corrective steps taken by the central bank to arrest the persistent downturn in the value of the rupee.
Higher payouts and bonus shares by some of the leading oil shares, notably Pakistan Oilfields, cash 160 per cent plus bonus shares 20 per cent and Attock Petroleum, cash 200 per cent and bonus shares at the rate of 20 per cent and by some other leading companies was another supporting factor behind the market’s positive stance, analysts said.
Attock Refinery followed them, with cash of 80 per cent and bonus shares at the rate of 20 per cent.
The market positive mood despite being under the ‘floor’ was also well reflected in the KSE 100-share index which was quoted modestly higher by 2.62 points at 9,181.35. But on the other hand both the KSE 30-share and the KMI 30-share indexes were quoted unchanged at 10,043.41 and 11,224.18 points respectively.
“The prevailing panic on the market was considerably defused by the positive statements by the country’s top economic managers,” analyst Tabish H.Rajabali said, adding “the off-the-floor transactions seem to have signalled a major change in the investor mood”.
According to market sources about 9.2m shares changed hands in the kerb market as compared to only 1.2m shares in the official trading on Wednesday.
He said bulk of it about 4m shares went to the credit of Bank Alfalah at an average rate of Rs31.25 per share followed by conflicting rumours, later denied, about its financial health.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said the lowering of bank cash requirements from nine to seven per cent by the central bank and injection of $100 million to support the rupee was another aiding factor, although investors were still in two minds about the future direction of the market.
“But their chief worry appears to be how the market will behave after the removal of the ‘floor’,” he said, adding “much will depend who will absorb the rumoured massive foreign selling after the ‘floor’ is lifted”.
Analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali says the corporate announcements pouring in daily could have generated a lot of genuine as well as speculative buying at the current lows, but news from the political and tribal areas did not allow them to go beyond certain limits for obvious reasons.
It was perhaps in this background that after several lean sessions, the market managed to show an improved trend as gainers held a fair lead over the losers on active short-covering.
Pakistan Services was leading among the gainers, which rose by Rs22 followed by Pak Datacom, Sitara Energy, Wah Nobel Chemical and National Foods, which rose by Rs1.05 to Rs3.64.
Barring Bolan Castings, which fell by Rs2.63, losses on the other hand were fractional and reflected lack of support rather than large selling from any quarter. Olympia Spinning, Shakarganj Sugar and UTP Large Fund followed it, off by 10 to 91 paisa.
Trading volume showed a modest rise at 1.792m shares as compared to 1.256m shares a day earlier as gainers outpaced losers by 15 to five, with 63 shares holding on to the last levels.
Royal Bank topped the list of actives, static on 0.510m shares, followed by Meezan Bank, also steady at Rs27.20 on 0.450m shares, Southern Electric unchanged at Rs3.90 on 0.282m shares, KESC, unchanged at Rs3.80 on 0.80m shares, Dominion Stock Fund, unchanged at Rs5.70 on 0.70m shares, UTP Large Fund, up by nine paisa at Rs5.59 on 0.56m shares and Fidelity Leasing, steady by five paisa at Rs4.35 on 0.44m shares.
Wah Nobel Chemicals followed them, higher by Rs2.31 at Rs49.20 on 0.41m shares, UDL Modaraba, up by 28 paisa at Rs4.20 on 0.31m shares and Habib-ADM, up by 19 paisa at Rs10.89 also on 0.31m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Taxila Engineering came in for active buying and was quoted higher by 95 paisa at Rs3.45 on 2,500 shares followed by National Asset Leasing, fractionally higher by one paisa at 42 paisa on 7,000 shares.
Mukhtar Textiles, Zeal Pak Cement, Japan Power, S.S. Oil and Haydery Construction also attracted modest support but finished unchanged.
DIVIDENDS: Grays of Cambridge, cash 100 per cent, Masood Textiles, 17.5 per cent, Capital Securities Corporation, bonus shares 40 per cent, Nishat Chunian, bonus 10 per cent, right shares 50 per cent at par, UDL Modaraba, cash 10 per cent, Gulshan Spinning, bonus 10 per cent, Gulshan Textiles, bonus 7.5 per cent, Paramount Spinning, bonus 7.5 per cent, National Bank Modaraba, cash 10 per cent, Hafiz Textiles 7.5 per cent and Fidelity Leasing, 10 per cent.