KSE-100 index lost another 372.51 points

Heavy selling pressure continued at the Karachi share market on the second day after the removal of the price floor and the benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 372.51 points to close at 8,444.59 points level on Tuesday. Over 100 million shares of blue chip stocks remained available for sale at KATS, which, could not traded due to the absence of buyers.

The market started in the negative and the index was down by 307.03 points at the end of the session. After readjustment as per the Karachi Stock Exchange rule, the index was declared down by 372.51 points. Trading volume at the ready market increased to 25.360 million shares as compared to 17.863 million shares traded a day earlier. The future market witnessed an activity of 3,500 shares after many days.

The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 109 billion to close at Rs 2.593 trillion. Trading took place in 150 scrips, out of which 130 scrips closed in the negative and 17 in the positive while the value of three scrips remained unchanged.

Zeal Pak was the overall volume leader of the day with 9.639 million shares and gained Re 0.11 to close at Re 0.50. KESC closed at Rs 1.81, up by Re 0.01 with 3.208 million shares. Dewan Salman lost Re 0.80 to close at Rs 1.14 with 2.157 million shares.

PIA declined by Re 0.95 to close at Rs 2.25 with 1.344 million shares. Telecard lost Re 0.76 to close at Rs 1.94 with 1.106 million shares. Pak PTA Limited decreased by Re 0.28 to close at Rs 1.90 with 1.046 million shares. IGI Investment Bank lost Re 0.92 to close at Rs 2.08 with 1.027 million shares. Nimir Ind Chemical gained Re 0.03 to close at Rs 1.18 with 0.999 million shares. Flying Cement lost Re 0.99 to close at Rs 2.33 with 0.949 million shares. Unity Modaraba closed at Re 0.25, up by Re 0.01 with 0.568 million shares.

Jubilee Spinning and Zephyr Textile were the highest gainers and gained Re 1.00 and Re 0.84 to close at Rs 3.00 and Rs 2.39 respectively while Unilever Pak and Pak Engineering were the worst losers and lost Rs 111.15 and Rs 16.13 to close at Rs 2111.85 and Rs 306.56 respectively.

Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that uncertainty prevailed as the rupee lost strength against the dollar on foreign outflow from capital markets and rising economic disorder. Investors remained concerned over Sindh High Court decision with respect to CFS outstanding contracts and fate of CFS Financiers/Financee. Falling Index levels and rising mark to market losses remained a concern for stock brokerage houses.
Depressed sentiment continued for the second day on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and the equities suffered losses amid ascending transaction volume on account of selling pressure. The LSE-25 index further declined by 143.71 points to close at 2475.02 against 2618.73 of Monday while trading turnover substantially increased to 1.228 million shares as compared to 0.761 million shares traded a day earlier.

While continuing overnight sentiment, the market opened on a negative note and remained under pressure throughout the day. During first hour of trading, all the major shares opened at their lower cap because of 5 percent circuit breaker and stayed in minus column. The market was totally lacking institutional support and kept on going down till the closing. The market lost about 10 percent just in two days and expected to further slide down by five percent on Wednesday as the stay against the CFS in the Sindh High Court has been extended for another day, said Aamir Hussain of Invest and Cap while commenting on the market trend. He was of the view the situation would be clear after the court verdict in the case.

Out of a total of 88 active issues, two companies improved their values, 15 stayed in negative zone, while 71 stayed glued to their previous levels. Among gainers, Southern Electric Power and Zeal Pak Cement improved their value by 8 and 5 paisa respectively. However, Sitara Energy lost Rs 1.98, Hub Power declined by Rs 1.02, Atlas Bank, Dewan Farooq Motors, Fauji Cement, NIB Bank, and Orix Investment Bank fell by Re 1 each. Zeal Pak Cement with trading of 610,000 shares topped the volume leaders followed by Dewan Salman Fibre with 261,000 shares.

Fresh bearish assault moved the entire ready-board in downward direction at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) where equities continued to show negative signs under the lead of hot favourite amid negative trend. ISE Ten Index was down by 88.20 points, as the index moved from 1,900.41 to 1,812.21 points.

The overall turnover stood at 82,319 shares as compared to previous volume of 419 shares. Total 65 companies participated in buying and selling activity. Majority of stocks (59) closed in negative territory, five closed in positive territory, whereas one company remained pegged to previous level. The volume of First UDL Modaraba was 20,000 shares. The turnover of Pakistan PTA was 20,000 shares. The turnover of PIA was 12,000 shares.

Stock Market closure : SECP and KSE to take decision today

A crucial meeting between Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) will be held on Saturday (today) to decide whether the stock market is kept closed for a few days or to take any other step to save the investors from further losses.

The meeting will discuss the proposals of KSE members to cap the CFS rates at 24 percent and to extend the CFS settlement period from 21 days to 25 days. The members proposed to keep close the stock exchange closed for few days if their said proposals are not accepted.

The meeting is being held at the time when many KSE members are in critical condition due to continuous decline in the share prices and lack of liquidity while some of them are nearing a default position.

Sources said that an informal meeting of the KSE members was held here on Friday to discuss the prevailing situation of the stock market. The members discussed various proposals. The lack of liquidity was the main concern for them and they discussed various proposals as to how the situation could be eased.

Later these proposals were also discussed in a meeting between KSE Managing Director Adnan Afridi and National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) Chairman Ali Ansari. The Chairman KSE Kamran Mirza also joined the meeting later. According to some sources the CFS was rolled over for one day as borrowers failed to get funds from CFS market on Friday. All the Friday's trading will be merged into the Monday's trading and the settlement will be held on Tuesday.

Prevailing uncertainty and rising lending rates forced the investors to stay on the fences on Friday and the benchmark KSE-100 index remained unchanged at 9,181.35 points level. The prevailing economic conditions coupled with increased CFS rates did not allow the market participants to take fresh positions, analysts said, adding that lack of liquidity remained the main reason behind the dull activity at the share market.

The ready market volumes slightly increased to 1.833 million shares as compared to 1.792 million shares traded a day earlier. The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 4 billion to Rs 2.841 trillion. Out of the total 70 scrips traded on Friday, 12 closed in positive territory, 10 in negative while 48 remained unchanged.

Nimir Resins was the overall volume leader with 0.618 million shares however it closed at Rs 5.30 without any change. NIB Bank also remained unchanged at Rs 8.45 with 0.268 million shares. Southern Electric gained Re. 0.02 to close at Rs 3.92 with 0.2 million shares. Sitara Energy increased by Re. 0.25 to close at Rs 22.30 with 0.139 million shares. UDL Mod closed at Rs 4.33, up by Re. 0.13 with 0.102 million shares. KESC closed at Rs 3.80 without any change with 77,000 shares.

Gharibwal Cement gained Re. 0.49 to close at Rs 17.99 with 65,000 shares. Pak Elektron increased by Re. 0.45 to close at Rs 37.50 with 56,700 shares. UTP-Large Cap. lost Re. 0.09 to close at Rs 5.50 with 52,000 shares. D.S. Ind Ltd closed at Rs 14.85 without any change with 49,500 shares. National Foods and Shakarganj Mills were top gainers with Rs 3.82 and Re. 0.66 to close at Rs 80.35 and Rs 12.50 respectively while Pak Datacom and Stand Chart Mod were the worst losers with Re. 0.85 and Re. 0.68 to close at Rs 48.25 and Rs 10.50, respectively.

Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that investors remained concerned over prevailing capital market crises mainly due to liquidity issues. Falling equity values in the international capital markets, economic crisis, declining rupee value, foreign selling, broker defaults and high lending rates remained chief concerns for the market participants, who opted to remain on sidelines.