KSE 100 index remained dull and lackluster throughout the two sessions owing to a ‘mourning call’ by a major political party. The index went down 51 points with dismal volumes of 30 million shares. Local institutions preferred to stay on the sidelines owing to prevailing political uncertainty.
Moreover, rumors of foreign funds activity in NBP and ENGRO in the second half failed to lift the beleaguered sentiments. JSCL remained the pick of the volumes with a trade of 5 million shares and closed up at 2.5 per cent. The KSE 100 index closed at 12,390.12 levels with a loss of 51.28 points and total volume stood at 23,888,544 along with the total value of 967,554,895. KSE index lost 17.43 points to close at 11,790.05 levels and All Share index closed at 8,596.72 levels after losing 30.95 points.
Total 103 scrips advanced 83 declined and 159 remained unchanged out of a total 345 scrips that were traded. Support by government treasuries and resident participants allowed day traders short-term trading opportunities during hand shift in various main board stocks that were struggling to sustain prevailing levels. While dips in stocks are likely to continue the momentum of growth in earnings and payouts kept the equity specific funds in search of bargains, as participants awaited panic sales in stocks for trading and placement.
Various taxation measures have reduced the number of participants substantially making life easier for syndicates operating through both local and off-shore channels. The syndicate ensures restricted decline in situations where market triggers are hard to find. This kind of movement results in deceiving those who are not part of the syndicate and restricts likely sellers from market operations. Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein said that delay in release of tranche by IMF and reservations by US may cause hurdles in release of CSF. Other issues like circular debt and high interest rate suggest caution for traders.
