Stocks further down by 90.89 points
Stocks maintained their creeping decline for the fourth session in a row on Thursday as investors were not inclined to make fresh commitments owing to weakness of the rupee and current turmoil on currency markets.
The turnover figure hit a new single-session all-time low at 11.117 million shares as investors watched the fall of rupee.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index was marked further down by 90.89 points at 12,035.21 points, reflecting weakness of leading base shares, including MCB Bank, OGDC and PTCL.
Its junior partner fell by 122.94 points at 13,973.72. Near-run on the US dollar on the open market continued to take its toll on the share market, leading fresh outflow of funds where price erosions manifested themselves in a bigger way amid falling demand.
Till late in the afternoon, the US dollar touched an all-time peak level at Rs70 for selling and 69.70 for buying, and currency dealers said it could further erode its value in the coming sessions owing to persistent outflow of funds caused by political uncertainty.
In the developing situation, the volume figure touched a new all-time low at 11.117 million shares surpassing the June 30, 2008, lowest total of 11.485m shares as investors kept to the sidelines and indications are that it is heading below the 10m share mark any day.
“The currency markets are virtually in turmoil and may need some immediate corrective steps by the central bank to put it back on the rails,” says a leading stock analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali.
“Terribly weak rupee can well mean anything to the economy as well as the capital market.”
The continued offloading by both the weak-holders and some leading investors without finding any exit outlet could take the market, what he called, summer sale to any low in the coming weeks.
In similar uncertain conditions as the prevailing one, the bad news overshadowed the positive ones, analyst Ahsan Mehanti said, adding: “the market needs official support as the private sector may not be around until sanity returns to currency markets”.
Bulk of the selling was confined to most of the overvalued shares, notably, PSO, MCB Bank, and some other leading shares, still holding margins and suffered a sharp fall within the lower locks, said a leading floor broker.
“The ongoing operation in Fata took a new turn after the US claimed it has permission, denied by the government, to hit known targets inside Pakistan in the tribal areas. The threat has a negative impact on the stock trading significantly adding to the prevailing uncertainty,” he said.
Price changes were again mostly fractional in the absence of buying interest and as a result minus again dominated the list under the lead of JS & Co and Attock Petroleum, off by Rs5.19 and 4.27, followed by MCB Bank, EFU General and Life, Pakistan Oilfields, Dawood Hercules, Attock Petroleum, PSO, which suffered a fall ranging from Rs3.19 to 4.27.
But on the other hand, Shield Corporation and Metropolitan Steel managed to finish with gains of Rs9 and 4.98 respectively. Askari Leasing, Masood Textiles, Shabbir Tiles, JWD Sugar, Janana Demalucho Textiles and United Brands followed them, up by Rs3.01 to 4.95.
The volume figure fell to a new low at 11.117m shares from the previous 13.778m shares as losers held a strong lead over gainers at 137 to 28, with 37 shares holding on to the last levels.
Among the actively traded scrips, NIB Bank was leading, easy by 11 paisa at Rs11.04 on 2m shares, followed by OGDC, off by Rs1.23 at Rs121.93 on 1.063m shares, D G Khan Cement, lower by 65 paisa at Rs65.16 on 0.828m shares, PTCL, easy by 65 paisa at Rs37.51 on 0.599m shares, Pakistan Cement, lower by six paisa at Rs6.62 on 0.477m shares, PSO, sharply lower by Rs4.24 at Rs420.27 on 0.430m shares and MCB Bank, off Rs3.19 at Rs316.70 on 0.367m shares.
Other actives were led by Pakistan Cement, easy by six paisa at Rs6.62 on 0.477m shares, Pak Elektron, lower by 26 paisa at Rs55.49 on 0.405m shares, JS Bank, easy by 13 paisa at Rs13.35 on0.378m shares and Saudi Pak Bank, lower by three paisa at Rs15.15 on 0.371m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Engro Polymer remained under pressure and fell further by Rs1.30 at Rs24.84 on 2m shares, followed by Crescent Investment Bank, lower by 89 paisa at Rs10.91 on 0.885m shares, and KASB Securities, off Rs3.65 at Rs69.49 on 0.456m shares. PSO followed them, off Rs4.27 at Rs423.51 on 0.105m shares and Pakistan Oilfields lower by Rs3.64 at Rs360.57 on 0.78m shares.
DEFAULTER COs: Prices on this counter also fell but fractionally as investors were not inclined to make fresh support on any of the shares despite lower rates.
There was, therefore, no notable deals in any of the actives, the largest transaction of 57,500 shares was noted in National Asset Leading at Rs0.62.
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