KARACHI, Sept 13: Stocks on Friday resisted larger fall as leading shares finished partially recovered from the initial lows followed by a late burst of active short-covering. But the underlying sentiment remained mixed.
The KSE 100-share index suffered a fractional fall of 0.12 points at 1,954.66 as compared to previous 1,954.78 points as all the leading base shares managed to end higher from the early lower levels, paving the way for a sustained recovery by the next week.
Dividend announcements from Grindlays Modaraba and Imrooz Modaraba at 40 and 50 per cent and some others also aided the sentiment.
Floor brokers said the weekend recovery is generally considered a good omen for the next week as institutional traders reinforce after making strong buying in the pivotals at the lower levels.
The late short-covering was attributed to rumours that the Indian prime minister has agreed to meet the Pakistani president on the initiative of president Bush to hold bilateral talks on the issues threatening the peace of the subcontinent.
The market could bounce back with a bang when the trading resumes next week after the official confirmation of the rumour, one broker predicts and “there could be a free-for-all as everyone seeks peace between the two close neighbours”.
Bulk of the late short-covering was confined to PSO, Hub-Power and some other blue chips, which had attained fairly attractive lower levels on persistent selling during the last couple of sessions.
But some others say the higher badla volume, notably in the leading shares including Hub-Power, PSO and PTCL could keep the market in the minus column partly because of renewed selling and partly to paucity of funds as huge amounts are tied to it.
Short-term dealers and jobbers, however, did not follow the institutional traders and hastened to left the market as they generally do at the weekend session.
Big gainers were led by Gatron Industries, Unilever Pakistan, International Industries, Spencer & Co, and Arif Habib Securities, which rose by Rs3 to Rs6.75. Other prominent gainers included Thal Jute, Attock Refinery, Shell Pakistan Dynea Pakistan and some others, rising by Rs1.20 to Rs2.50.
While losers were led by Pakistan Oilfields, Javed Omer & Co, Gillette Pakistan, Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pakistan, which suffered decline ranging from Rs2.50 to Rs20. Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pakistan were leading among them off Rs10 and Rs20 respectively.
Island Textiles, Dawood Cotton, Lakson Tobacco, PSO, Shell Gas, and Packages also remained under pressure and ended lower by one rupee to Rs2.10.
Trading volume fell to 87m shares from the previous 96m shares as losers held a fair lead over the gainers at 128 to 84, with 59 shares holding on to the last levels.
The most active list was topped by Hub-Power, lower five paisa at Rs27.35 on 22m shares, followed by PSO, off Rs2.50 at Rs192 on 19m shares, PTCL, easy five paisa at Rs19.60 on 17m shares, Dewan Salman, up 45 paisa at Rs15 on 5m shares, MCB, up 25 paisa at Rs26.30 on 4m shares, Adamjee Insurance, off 55 paisa at Rs43.85 on 3m shares, and National Bank, easy 10 paisa at Rs23.15 on 2m shares.
Engro Chemical, was traded higher by 55 paisa at Rs60.55 on 2m shares and Sui Northern, was easy five paisa at Rs15.05 on 1.279m shares. Others were modestly traded under the lead of D.G.Khan Cement, higher 40 paisa at Rs11.95 on 4m shares.
CLEARED LIST: PSO remained under pressure on the forward counter and shed another Rs2.35 at Rs192.40 on 8.702m shares followed by PTCL, up five paisa at Rs19.75 on 3.803m shares.
A and B shares of Hub-Power showed divergent trend. While the former fell by 15 paisa at Rs27.30 on 7.866m shares, the latter was held unchanged at Rs24.20 on 7.188m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Active trading was witnessed on this counter where about a dozen shares came in for modest support under the lead of Custodian Modaraba, lower 20 paisa at Rs3 on 16,000 shares.
Other actives were led by Quice Foods, lower 15 paisa at Rs1.05 on 5,000 shares and Allied Motors, unchanged at Rs10 on 2,000 shares. Saitex Spinning was marked down by 40 paisa at Re1 also on 2,000 shares.
DIVIDEND: Grindlays Modaraba, cash 40 per cent, Imrooz Modaraba, 50 per cent, Dilon Industries, final 40 per cent, interim at the rate of 30 per cent already paid, Bawany Air Products 10 per cent, Attock Cement five per cent, Bengal Fibre and Sazgar Engineering both nil for the year ended June 30, 2002.
BOARD MEETINGS: Grays of Cambridge Pakistan on Sept 17, Southern Electric, Shifa International, Berger Paints, National Foods, Balochistan Wheels, on Sept 19, Capital Asset Leasing, Al-Meezan Mutual Fund on Sept 20, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer on Sept 24, and Fauji Fertilizer on Sept 28.