KARACHI, Sept 10: The stocks, on Friday, recovered from the early lows to finish the weekend session with an extended decline amid terribly low volume and fractional price changes.

The initial sell-off was triggered by the reports of bombing on a terrorist training centre in the tribal areas and killing of four dozen persons and the later improvement attributed to stray buying at lower levels on selected counters.

Dividend from EcoPak gave a pleasant surprise to leading analysts as it came out with a cash payout of 10 per cent plus bonus shares of 50 per cent and right share of 100 per cent. It rose by Rs2.50 on 9.600 shares.

The KSE 100-share index tended further lower by 11.91 points at 5,1672.21 as compared to 5,184.12 a day earlier as all the leading base shares fell further on renewed selling.

At one stage it was off 40 points but later recovered on modest short-covering made by some of the leading investors at lower levels on selected counters, notably those whose board meetings are due next week. It touched the highest and the lowest of the day at 5,184.12 and 5,142.31 points, respectively.

"The army operation in the tribal belt may continue to haunt investors who will not like to make fresh commitments amid fears of law and order situation," analysts said. "Moreover, it may also send negative signals among the foreign investors who are planning to enter the capital market."

The situation in Wana and Balochistan is not that good and will continue to take its toll in the coming sessions as investors will think twice to re-enter the market even at the attractively lower levels, they said.

"What is more is that political risks are growing each session as reflected by falling volumes and continued to decline in the share values of blue chips," brokers said and added: "When it happens it signals the market collapse any time."

Until the perception of political stability is reinforced the investors will not back in the market at least for the near-term and in the absence of financial institutions, which restore sanity to daily volumes, the activity may remain a dull affair, they said.

On the technical side, higher carryover investment, totalling about Rs27 billion is also taking its toll as fears of free float from the carryover market could push prices further lower.

Apart from disturbing news from the political front, the underlying sentiment was also influenced bearishly by weekend selling by punters, and short-term investors.

Some of the cement, textile, chemical, auto, telecomm and bank shares came in for modest short-covering under the lead of those whose board meetings are due next week and are expected to declare good dividend.

Although losers again dominated the list, some of the leading shares managed to put good gains under the lead of Gatron Industries, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co, Jahangir Siddiqui Bank,

Exide Battery, Pak Elektron, Unilever Pakistan, National Foods, up Rs4 to Rs10. But the largest gains of Rs16.90 and Rs52 were recorded in Colgate Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, respectively.

Losers were led by Millat Tractors, Treet Corporation, Cherat Papers, Lakson Tobacco, and IGI Insurance, which suffered fall ranging from Rs4.50 to Rs20, largest decline being in Siemens Pakistan.

Trading volume fell to 106m shares from the previous 190m shares as losers maintained a strong lead over gainers at 174 to 121, with 54 shares holding on to the last levels.

DG Khan Cement led the list of actives, lower 20 paisa at Rs56.70 on 10m shares followed by OGDCL, easy 25 paisa at Rs63.25 also on 10m shares, Bank of Punjab, steady 10 paisa at Rs64.15 on 8m shares, ICI Pakistan, up one rupee at Rs89.10 on 7m shares, and National Bank, firm by five paisa at Rs69.55 on also on 7m shares.

Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, higher by Rs1.25 on 7m shares, F.F. Bin Qasim, steady five paisa on 5m shares, Nishat Mills, up Rs1.20 on 4m shares, Askari Bank, off 35 paisa also on 4m shares and Hub-Power, easy 10 paisa on 3m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Pakistan Petroleum remained in strong demand and posted a fresh sharp gain of Rs4.05 at Rs113.50 on a massive volume of 65m shares followed by OGDCL, easy 15 paisa at Rs63.40 on 5m shares, DG Khan Cement, unchanged at Rs56.95 on 4m shares, PTCL, up 15 paisa at Rs40.10 on 2m shares and National Bank, firm by five paisa at Rs69.75 also on 2m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Quice Foods led the list of actives, up 55 paisa at Rs4.25 on 0.407m shares followed by Crescent-Standard Bank, lower 25 paisa at Rs10.25 on 0.175m shares. Others were modestly traded.

DIVIDEND: Al-Noor Modaraba, cash 10.5 per cent.

BOARD MEETINGS: Universal Insurance, on Sept 11; Safa Textiles, International Investment Bank, Sanghar Sugar Mills, on Sept 15; Bengal Fibre, DG Khan Cement, Berger Paints, Colgate Pakistan, on Sept 16; Reliance Weaving, Ferozsons Lab, on Sept 17; Orix Investment Bank, on Sept 20; and Allwing Engineering on Sept 22.