KARACHI, Jan 1: Stocks on Thursday fell below the day's highs despite vote of trust for the president because of late selling by some of the retailers followed by reports of steep increase in carryover volume and fears of fresh pruning in the share values of some pivotals.
The underlying sentiment was also influenced bearishly as the new prudential rules aiming at better risk management on the market operations of the banks and DFIs, have become effective from Jan 1, 2004. Under the new rules, bank investment in shares restricted to 20 per cent and those of DFIs to 35 per cent.
The market, however, opened the new year account on a positive note apparently in anticipation of vote of confidence for the president by both the houses but the post-vote proceeding was disappointing as some of the technical irritants prompted a lot of selling and the index finished with a fractional rise.
According to an old adage "as goes the January so goes the market", but its new year debut was not that encouraging as it should have been after the MMA deal with the government and its pre-vote spectacular performance, brokers said.
The KSE 100-share index early breached through the barrier of 4,500 points after rising by 50 points but late selling for no apparent bearish reasons pulled it down to finish fractionally higher by 1.43 points at 4,473.07.
"A fractional rise of 1.43 points fell far below the investor perceptions on this momentous day," says a leading analyst, but hoped that the new year may bring some good news for the general investor.
The early run-up was attributed to market talk that the president may get a unanimous vote for his presidency but the boycott of the proceeding by the major opposition parties triggered selling.
The perception of continuity in the economic and financial policies after the MNAs and MPAs of the ruling elite voted Gen. Musharraf as President should give further push to stock trading in the new year will be at work during the next couple of sessions, analysts said.
Investors seem to be analyzing the impact of vote of confidence for the president on the market before starting new year buying, they said adding the market may take some more days before reacting to the changed political scenario, they said.
Massive volumes in some of the leading shares including the PSO in the carryover market also worried some leading brokers amid fears of default on the part of some of the retailers, some others said.
Leading gainers were led by Wyeth Pakistan, which posted a fresh rise of Rs75 owing to the absence of floating stock followed by IGI, New Jubilee Insurance, Mari Gas, Grays of Cambridge, Security Papers and Bhanero Textiles, up by Rs5 to Rs11.85. Mehmood Textiles after the announcement of 40 per cent cash dividend, Attock Refinery, International Industries, also showed good gains ranging from Rs4 to Rs4.95.
Prominent losers included by the food shares, notably Unilever, Nestle MilkPak and Rafhan Maize, off by Rs6 to Rs12.25 followed by Javed Omer, Lakson Tobacco, Gatron Industries, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Dawood Hercules, Atlas Honda and Siemens Pakistan, off by Rs4 to Rs9.55.
Trading volume rose to 268m shares from the previous 171m shares as gainers maintained a fair lead over the losers at 182 to 129, with 56 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by Sui Northern Gas, higher by 85 paisa at Rs42.05 on 23m shares, followed by Hub-Power, firm by five paisa at Rs38.50 on 22m shares, Engro Chemical, lower 30 paisa at Rs92.50 on 20m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, up Rs1.35 at Rs25.30 on 18m shares and PTCL, easy five paisa at Rs36.60 on 16m shares.
Other actives were led by PIAC, steady by 15 paisa on 15m shares, PSO, off 95 paisa on 12m shares, Lucky Cement, up 15 paisa also on 12m shares, National Bank, firm by 25 paisa on 11m shares and MCB, higher by Rs1.40 also on 11m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Mixed trend was seen on this counter as leading shares including OGDC and PSO fell by five paisa and Rs1.05 at Rs.51.85 and 289.75 respectively on active selling. While the former accounted for 44m shares, the latter was traded for 4m shares. PTCL also suffered a fractional fall of five paisa at Rs37 on 2m shares.
Hub-Power and FF Bin Qasim on the other hand managed to finish higher by 10 paisa and 45 paisa at Rs38.85 and Rs18.25 respectively on 4m and 3m shares. DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Biafo Industries and Standard Investment Bank came in for active bouts of buying and selling and while the former fell by 15 paisa at Rs9.05 on 0.147m shares, the latter rose by 85 paisa at Rs6.85 on 0.249m shares. Others were modestly traded.
DIVIDEND: Mehmood Textiles, cash 40 per cent, Mitchell's Fruit Farms, 30 per cent, Reliance Weaving, 7.5 per cent and Sui Northern Gas, 22 per cent. Faran Sugar, Nazir Cotton, Usman Textiles, Al-Asif Sugar, Crescent Sugar and Bawany Sugar, all nil for the year ended Sept 30, 2003.