KARACHI, March 21: Stocks on Monday resumed trading on a terribly bearish note as leading bulls continued to liquidate long positions amid fresh panic selling by all and sundry followed by reports of tense situation in Balochistan and fears of fresh clashes. The KSE 100-share index suffered second largest single-session fall of 401 points or 4 per cent(previous being 441 points) at 9,097.92 as leading index shares, notably PSO OGDC, Pakistan Oilfields and many others again fell sharply on persistent selling.
Market capital also fell by Rs104.264bn from the previous Rs2,589.756bn, adding to previous session’s losses of well over Rs200bn as all the heavily-capitalized shares remained under pressure under the lead of OGDC, PPL, PTCL, PSO and some others.
However, buyers kept to the sidelines and did not make fresh covering purchases in an uncertain market as was reflected by steep decline in the volume figure at 154m shares.
Fears of a big clash in Balochistan triggered fresh sell-stops in the overvalued energy shares, notably OGDC, Pakistan Oilfields, PPL and some other, which together hold a weightage of over 50 per cent, pulling index sharply down.
In the morning, at one stage the index hit the low of 9,000 level but later short-covering in some of the pivotals at falling prices averted further fall. Analysts said at the weekend session bulls were back in the market and vowed to reverse the trend on Monday signalling “enough is enough” but some fresh negative developments on the Balochistan front kept them away to manifest their presence in a big way.
Opinions are now divided over the futures market outlook in the back drop of massive reaction of 1,000 points in the last three sessions. Some claim further erosions are still on the cards as bears have proved in more than one ways that the current run-up to the index level of 10,000 was not genuinely backed by the market fundamentals.
But some others say in typical Pakistani market conditions there is no perception of massive retreat after prices set new all-time high records as they again creep back though progressively to those levels.
Energy shares led the market decline on heavy selling at the inflated levels followed by cement, auto, fertilizer and chemical sectors. Prominent losers were led by Lakson Tobacco, Pakistan Oilfields, Javed Omer, Arif Habib Securities, Bhanero Textiles, National Refinery, Aventis and Wyeth Pakistan after below market expectations dividend of 50 per cent, off Rs13 to Rs50.
They were followed by Pakistan Cables, Rafhan Bestfoods, Pakistan Refinery, and Shell Pakistan, off Rs10 to Rs20.40. All was not bad with broader market as a good number of shares managed to finish higher, leading among them being PICIC, Fazal Textiles, Clover Pakistan, ECOpack, Bata Pakistan, Glaxo-SKF, Indus Dyeing, Habib Insurance after a higher cash dividend of 30 per cent plus bonus shares of an identical amount and Ferozsons Lab, which posted gains ranging from Rs2 to Rs11.
The volume figure fell to a lowest level in the recent past at 154m shares as losers forced a strong lead over the gainers at 327 to only 49, with 13 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by Pak PTA, off Re1 at Rs13.80 on 20m shares followed by PSO, lower Rs6 at Rs445, on 19m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, easy by Rs3.50 at Rs67 on 11m shares, PPL, sharply lower by Rs12 at Rs265 on 10m shares and Hub-Power, down 20 paisa at Rs29.55 on 9m shares.
Other actives included Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, off Rs1.75 on 7m shares, TRG Pakistan, lower one rupee on 6m shares, OGDC, off Rs8.35 on 6m shares, PTCL, lower by Rs4.30 also on 6m shares and Lucky Cement, off Rs1.70 on 5m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PPL came in for renewed selling and fell by Rs11.75 at Rs265.25 on 44m shares, followed by PSO, off Rs7.45 at Rs445.25 on 38m shares, PTCL, lower Rs5.75 at Rs80.75 on 37m shares and Sui Northern Gas, off Rs3.42 at Rs65.55 on 5m shares.
The new comer April settlements also came on the board and followed the lead of their maturing March contracts.
DEFAULTER COS: Trading on this counter failed to pick up as investors remained busy in ready section readjusting their portfolios in the backdrop of massive market reversal. Price changes were fractional on either side.
DIVIDEND: Habib Insurance, cash 30 per cent, bonus shares of an identical amount, Wyeth Pakistan, cash 50 per cent, Askari General Insurance, cash 17.5 per cent.