20000328

Values nose-dive

on KSE

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Stock values nose-dived on Monday and all scrips underwent heavy erosion, as the visit of US President Bill Clinton scrapped all hopes of the investors, and the index breached the 2000 mark.

The KSE-100 index registered a fall of 70.48 points, or 3.52 percent, to 1931.42 from 2001.90 of Friday. The volume amounted to 266.723 million shares, against 217.048 million shares of Friday. Market capitalisation moved down to Rs 488.326 billion from Rs 503.881 billion.

According to an analyst, the much-awaited Clinton's visit to Pakistan could not spark events that market punters were expecting. Unlike India, the US President neither waived any of the economic sanctions nor promised any further economic aid for the dollar-starved Pakistan. However, if one looks deep into the US President's speech, the adherence to this by the military regime can cause a major turnaround in the local economic environments in the long run.

An analyst from Westminster and Eastern Services said that the market opened on a weak note, reflecting heavy carry-over charges on the last working day (Friday) and no impulsive statement given by President Clinton during his visit paved the way for the bears to cause another bearish spell. The market evidently lacked genuine support as most of the institutions stayed on the sidelines.

The market moved its impending technical weave, which caused such a slipover during the day. The index diluted almost 143 points in just two sessions. He said that overdue correction had placed the KSE index in a much stable condition. He advised his clients to start accumulation of selected scrips for their short-term portfolio on weakness.

Mohammad Zubair Ellahi, of KAB Securities, said that the slide in privatisation scrips, which were in a highly overbought zone, led to this across-the-board trimming, with still outstanding badla positions.

He said that the isolated stability in a couple of fibre and cement stocks failed to catch attention. The broader term outlook might still appear stable with immediate pressure.

Nadeem-ud-Din, of AHR Securities, said that overall the market was overbought on account of recent Clinton's visit. High expectations had been made which, unfortunately, did not come true and hence the panic selling dipped the prices of almost all issues in the early hour of the session.

Some recovery was seen later on, since the institutions had already sold out major positions in the previous clearing and on Monday they entered the market and established fresh positions in selected stocks. The overall sentiment remained bearish as panic-selling was there and the trading was recorded in a narrow band.

PTCL on a trading of 70.513 million shares showed a fall of Rs 1.60 to Rs 31.90, Hub Power moved down to Rs 27.40 from Rs 28.40 as nearly 66.694 million shares changed hands; ICI on trading of 28.040 million shares closed at Rs 16.60, i.e lower by 90 paisa; Sui Northern Gas on a volume of 18.296 million shares recorded a drop of 20 paisa to Rs 20.95; and PSO on a turnover of 15.505 million shares moved down by Rs 14.10 to Rs 231.90.