20000210

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Selling pressure at the stock market on Wednesday pushed down the prices of several blue chips under the lead of PTCL and Hubco, which showed that bears were in full control of the proceedings.

Though there was no negative report from the political or economic front, profit selling from speculators mainly from the upcountry trimmed the stock prices. A leading trader said that upcountry speculators were net sellers in PTCL, Hubco and Adamjee Insurance. However, they switched their focus and started accumulating KESC and ICI.

Besides profit selling, the results of Hubco also affected the mood of the investors. Though the profit figures were in line with the expectations of the market, buyers were still in the forefront as they believed that the government was keen to resolve the tariff dispute with the company.

The profit of the company recorded a fall of 11.8 percent to Rs 2.916 billion in the six months ended December 31, 1999 compared with Rs 3.303 billion of the corresponding period a year ago.

The KSE-100 index registered a drop of 35.92 points to 1787.60 from 1818.52 of Tuesday. The volume amounted to 323.190 million shares as against 226.547 million shares of Tuesday. The market capitalisation moved down to Rs 454.665 billion from Rs 462.640 billion on Tuesday.

An analyst of Westminster and Eastern Services Limited said that the index went into technical correction as the bears dominated the rings, causing major dents on blue chip counter. PTCL witnessed massive erosion.

He added that the surprising technical correction put the market in a much stable condition. However, the market might open weak on Thursday because of its continued selling pressure which is expected to ease in the later session.

Mohammad Zubair Ellahi of KAB Securities said that the activity in second tiers was picking up whereas trimming in top speculatives led to significant slide in the index.

He added that the long badla positions were yet to be squared whereas fresh inflow was low. This might exert further pressure and allow good bargains. The broader term outlook was still positive.

Faisal Abbas of AHR Securities said that profit-taking in PTC and Adamjee Insurance by the upcountry punters, who had been holding these scrips for the long, caused a sharp decline in the index, PTCL alone contributed the 85 percent to the downfall in the index on account of its huge weight.

He added that Hubco's six monthly profits which were slightly lower than the last year's profits were quite inevitable because of its on going tussle, hence a slight decline was heralded in the value of the scrip. But the promising statement of the Chief Executive about settlement of issue by the end of this month should not be skipped and market men were expected to create fresh positions on dips, starting from Rs 26.50 onwards.

PTCL on a trading of 175.7 million shares lost by Rs 1.30 to Rs 29.35, Hubco on a business of 60.061 million shares moved down by 30 paisa to Rs 27.45, FFC Jordan moved up to Rs 13.55 from Rs 13.40 as nearly 13.834 million shares changed hands , KESC on a turnover of 13.408 million shares closed at Rs 13.45, higher by 55 paisa and ICI on a volume of 9.165 million shares finished at Rs 13.05 from Rs 13.20.