KARACHI, Dec 2: Stocks on Thursday remained under pressure as leading investors adhered to the sidelines, while jobbers and short-term dealers indulged in renewed selling amid light trading. The KSE 100-share index shed another 8 points at 5,552.50.
Analysts attributed the current pause to Friday's corporate excellence award giving ceremony to top 25 companies by the prime minister amid market talk of some fresh incentives for the investing public. Larger fall was, however, averted thanks to the presence of strong buying at the dips.
Stocks, therefore, passed through another lean session as consolidation forces again dominated the trading apparently paving the way for a big turnaround after the market meets its technical demands.
The KSE 100-share index early tended higher by 16 points to hit the day's best level of 5,576.73 on the strength of leading base shares but as follow-up support turned shy it ended reacted at 5,552.50 as compared to 5,560.50, off eight points.
Falling world oil prices and perception of lower earnings did not allow energy shares to resume their role as market trend setter. However, rumours of Bosicor Refinery and Japan Power tie up evoked a good interest in both, which are ruling within the buying range, brokers said.
All eyes now seem to be focused on the textile sector whose annual meetings are due and expectations of good dividend on the pattern of those which had already come out with higher cash dividend and bonus shares continue to inspire fresh buying in them, they said.
Central bank review of the financial sector was pretty encouraging as it termed the current year an important milestone in more than one ways. The low interest rates and strong rupee were some of the stimulating factors behind the KSE 100-share index run-up to an all-time high of 5,620 points. But there was no immediate impact on the market as investors were in the process of having an overview of some other developments, notably prime minister's visit to the city.
The market is expected to shrug off the current hesitancy possibly by tomorrow expecting some market-friendly announcement from the prime minister while giving corporate excellence awards to 25 listed companies on Friday evening, some analysts predict.
Minus signs again dominated list under the lead of Shell Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, off Rs6 and Rs20 followed by Shahtaj Sugar, Shezan International, Sitara Chemical, Sapphire Textiles and Treet Corporation, which suffered fall ranging from Rs2.95 to Rs5. But on the other hand HinoPak Motors, Colgate Pakistan and Nestle MilkPak came in for active support and posted gains ranging from Rs10.05 to Rs29.Gul Ahmed Textiles, Mitchell's Farm Fruits, Gatron Industries and Aventis rose by Rs4.95 to Rs10.
Trading volume was light falling to 181m shares from theprevious 197m shares as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 231 to 146, with 51 shares holding on to the last levels.
Japan Power and Bosicor Pakistan topped the list of actives on rumours of tie up, up 50 and 40 paisa at Rs6.35 and Rs20.10 on 22m and 16m shares respectively followed by DG Khan Cement, lower 50 paisa at Rs51.50 on 16m shares, Nishat Mills, easy 40 paisa at Rs53.50 on 14m shares, PTCL, steady by five paisa at Rs40.30 on 13m shares, PIAC, up 30 paisa at Rs13.05 on 11m shares, OGDC, off 40 paisa at Rs66.35 on 10m shares and Sui Northern Gas, also lower by 40 paisa at Rs56.15 on 7m shares.
Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, off 50 paisa on 6m shares and Bank of Punjab, lower 70 paisa on 5m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Speculative issues on the forward counters also stayed weak on renewed selling and fell under the lead of PPL, off 70 paisa at Rs121.35 on 5 million shares followed by PSO, easy Rs1.55 at Rs266.30 on 3 million shares and OGDC, lower 55 paisa at Rs65.35 also on 3m shares.
DG Khan Cement, fell by 45 paisa at Rs51.80, while Pakistan Oilfields, was marked down by one rupee at Rs211.10 on 2m shares. Others showed either-way fractional changes.
DEFAULTER COS: Active trading was again witnessed on this counter as low-priced textile shares again came in for strong buying for quick gains. Apex Fabrics, Hamid Textiles, and Service Fabrics were leading among them accounted for 0.244m, 0.182m and 0.180m shares respectively. Asset Investment Bank followed them up 50 paisa at Rs5.55 on 0.277m shares. Some others on other counters were also actively traded.
DIVIDEND: Kohinoor Textiles, bonus shares at the rate of 10 per cent and right shares of an identical amount at a premium of Rs10.
BOARD MEETINGS: Latif Jute on Dec 6, SS Oils, Shaheen Cotton, Shahzad Textiles, and Gadoon Textiles, on Dec 7.