• Home
• /
• Business

Stock market suffers fresh pruning

"The share market may not be the same as it has been by the end of July," fears a leading analyst "when foreign threats creep in investors think twice to put money in equities."

On the home front, the political situation is not that encouraging as the contenders of power have taken terribly rigid positions on some vital national issues on which the consensus appears to be too difficult, he said.

But some others said the current lull is temporary and the market will resume its upward drive aided by its own positive fundamentals in an oversold market.

The KSE 100-share index shed another 76.78 points at 13,433.81 as compared to 13,510.59 a day earlier as leading base shares fell further on renewed selling. The KSE 30-share index fell by 110.45 points at 16,067.35.

The market, however, seems to have absorbed the negative impact of notices issued to some of the brokers about the short-selling leading to the crash of June 2006 and snap suspension trading in the shares of Habib Bank on Monday on complaints by some brokers in regard to late announcement of its interim results but external factors weighed heavily against the underlying sentiment.

The market could witness snap flutters here and there but it appears difficult to sustain the current dividend-linked rally in the coming weeks owing to prevailing objective conditions, some others said.

Minus signs again dominated the list under the lead of Pakistan Services and Siemens Pakistan, off Rs24.50 and 61.00, while Unilever Pakistan and JS & Co were leading among the gainers, up by Rs19.00 and 33.10.

Trading volume rose to 237 million shares from the previous 175 million shares as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 234 to 83, with 24 shares holding on to the last levels.