KARACHI, July 26: Stocks on Friday lacked normal trading interest as investors were not inclined to make fresh commitments at the lower levels apparently awaiting the advent of institutional buying.
The reports of rebound staged by the major world markets did not generate fresh buying interest on some of the leading MNCs but rather their share value showed fresh fall under the lead of Lever Brothers and Siemens Pakistan, which fell by Rs16 and Rs8.95 respectively on active selling but no active buyers even at the dips.
However, some dealers predict that the market is watching the latest developments on the world bourses and will certainly react positively after they follow the set pattern sans speculative activity.
Larger decline was, however, resisted as was reflected by most fractional price changes and terribly slow physical activity even on the most active scrips.
The KSE 100-share index finished with a fresh setback of 7.21 points at 1,783.05 as compared to 1,790.26 a day earlier despite the fact that base shares including PTCL and Hub-Power finished the weekend session on a firm note.
Stock analysts said the market is in search of fresh stimulants both financial and political as it has lost direction amid fading investor confidence in the share business.
“Having lost investment charm as a most haven currency, the dollar is witnessing the outflow of long-term investment rather than inflow”, they said “the gold is following its lead as its price has dropped from Rs6,200 per 10 grams to Rs6,078 yesterday”.
“There is a lot of liquid money floating here and there but failed to find a profitable outlet”, some others said “some months back there was a massive inter-change of funds between the shares and the gold but not now”.
Floor brokers said elections uncertainties may have gripped the market as no quarter including the financial institutions are inclined to support the market or generate sympathetic buying from the shaky moneyed peoples.
“There is a loud whispering about some major takeover bids and once the details are out, the market could respond positively and consequent normal trading activity”, they added.
All eyes are now focused on the financial institutions and whether they re-enter the market or stay away will determine the future market direction, they added.
On the corporate front, there is a virtual galore of annual general meetings of the textile and sugar sector, whose financial years close on August 31 but whether or not they came out with dividend is anybody’s guess.
Most viable among them may come out with small dividend of 10 to 15 per cent but the market is unsure of a positive announcements from most of them. Selected ones could gave pleasant surprise to their shareholders.
Trading volume fell to 33m shares from the previous 59m shares, bulk of which was shared by Hub-Power, PTCL, PSO, and National Bank. Losers led gainers by a fair margin at 172 to 68, with 72 shares holding on to the last levels.
PTCL led the list of actives, relegating Hub-Power into a second position, up five paisa at Rs17.70 on 8m shares, PSO, firm by 15 paisa at Rs138.95 on 5m shares, National Bank, lower 25 paisa at Rs21.10 on 1.731m shares and Pak PTA (right), unchanged at Rs0.10 on 1.462m shares.
Other actives were led by Engro Chemical, easy 10 paisa on 1.082m shares, KESC, lower 10 paisa on 0.839m shares, ICI Pakistan, off 30 paisa on 0.691m shares, ICP SEMF, up 35 paisa on 0.605m shares and MCB, easy five paisa on 0.592m shares.
CLEARED LIST: Trading volume on forward counter further rose to 21m shares from the previous 1.8m shares thanks to active rolling of positions from the maturing contract to the distant settlements, dealers said.
Hub-Power proved to be most active scrip, up four paisa and off by the same amount at Rs24.34 and Rs24.53 on 3.965m and 4.273m shares for both the maturing July and the distant August settlements.
PTCL followed it, lower by 5 and four paisa at Rs17.67 and Rs17.82 for both the July and August contracts respectively. PSO suffered a sharp setback of 75 paisa and Rs1.05 at Rs140.00 and Rs138.70 for both the July and September contracts. Others were modestly traded.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Trading on this counter was relatively slow because of weekend consideration. Share of nine companies came in for trading under the lead of Shahpur Textiles, up 45 paisa at Rs2 on 4,000 shares, Mehran Jute, firm by 10 paisa at Rs0.70 on 3,000 shares and Chenab Fibre, off 60 paisa at Rs5.25 on 500 shares.