KARACHI, March 7: Shares on Friday ran into weekend selling as retailers and short-term dealers took profits at the available margins but the trading lacked any special feature. The index fell 31.29 points at 2,448.66.
Earlier, president Bush’s warning to attack Iraq irrespective of counter moves by some major world powers including China, France and Germany triggered hasty selling but the mid-session saw the advent of stray covering purchases on the blue chip counters at the dips.
Energy shares fell, followed by Bush’s war threat, under the lead of PSO and Shell Pakistan, off Rs5.75 and Rs13.05 respectively. Others including Pakistan Oilfields followed them
The KSE 100-share index, which has netted good gains during the last couple of sessions in response to higher interim of 33 per cent by the Hub-Power, suffered a decline of 31.29 points or 1.5 per cent at 2,448.65 as compared to 2,479.95 a day earlier as leading base shares were marked fractionally down. The market capitalization also fell by Rs6.774bn at Rs558.810bn.
The opening itself was bearish as investors were not inclined to make bigger commitments in the backdrop of Iraq situation and allied fears of US attack any time and mostly played safe, brokers said. Weekend selling further accentuated the situation, although larger fall was averted.
The other destabilizing factor was a long weekend ahead as the market will close from next Wednesday on account of Muharram holidays and will reopen next week.
The last trading hour was terribly sluggish as a sizable section of brokers switched over to their TV sets to watch super six cricket match between Sri Lanka and Australia.
The heating up of the local political scene after the opposition has taken a rigid stand on its legitimacy also worked against the underlying sentiment as investors were not inclined to go beyond certain pre-determined limits, analysts said.
However, some of them expect the steady inflow of large funds from the financial institutions as the recent fall in T-bill yields to 2.1 per cent has made stocks more attractive.
There are conflicting opinions about the direction of the market but how will it react to some basic positive fundamentals including higher corporate announcements and perception of a robust growth rate during the current year will be known after the Muharram holidays.
Prominent gainers were led by Engro Chemical, Dreamworld, Shafiq Textiles, Bhanero Textiles, Mitchells’ Fruits, Dawood Hercules and Treet Corporation, up Rs1.50 to Rs10.
Losers included Nestle MilkPak, Century Papers, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Bolan Casting, Pakistan Oilfields, Attock Refinery and Abbott Lab, off Rs2 to Rs3.25.
Trading volume fell below the 100m share mark at 82m shares as leading buyers and sellers kept to the sidelines, while jobbers and short-term dealers indulged in alternate bouts of buying and selling. Losers outpaced gainers by a big margin at 158 to 55, with 41 shares holding on to the last levels.
Hub-Power came in for active selling and fell 55 paisa at Rs34.95 on 27m shares, one third of the total, followed by PTCL, lower 45 paisa at Rs20.95 on 12m shares, PSO, sharply lower by Rs5.75 at Rs190.50 on 11m shares, Engro Chemical, up Rs1.75 at Rs90.95 on 10m shares and Sui Northern Gas, off 60 paisa at Rs21 on 5m shares.
Other actives were led by Pakistan Oilfields, off Rs1.75 on 3m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, easy 30 paisa also on 3m shares, Pak PTA, lower 15 paisa on 1.337m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, off 25 paisa on 1.180m shares and ICI Pakistan, lower 85 paisa on 1m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PSO came in for renewed selling on market talk that its sell-off date may be extended, off Rs5.70 at Rs190.50 on 9m shares followed by Hub-Power, lower 65 paisa at Rs34.90 on 8m shares, PTCL, easy 25 paisa at Rs21.10 on 3m shares and Engro Chemical, up 50 paisa at Rs79 on 0.7m shares.
Among the others, ICI Pakistan came in for active support and rose by Rs1.10 at Rs42.90 on modest turnover.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Trading activity on this counter was relatively slow as investors kept to the sidelines owing to weekend considerations. Custodian Modaraba came in for renewed modest support and rose five paisa at Rs2.75 on 2,500 shares followed by Shahpur Textiles up 30 paisa at Rs1.80 on 2,000 shares and S.S. Oils, easy 35 paisa at Rs3.05 also on 2,000 shares.