The (Passed) Winds of Change – Part 2

Again, here’s my take on the news. I think the three more important ones, that directly pertain, hence affect, the Karachi stock exchange, are:

1. The release that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is to postpone the decision to levy Capital Gain Tax for the next year.
2. The Sindh Government’s decision to discontinue stamp duty on electronic transfer of shares. [This proposal was in the last budget (June 2006). The duty was Rs. 0.01 per share.]
3. The opposition and disfavor of the Public Accounts Committee toward the privatization of Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

CFS Eligible Scrips

1. ACBL
2. BAFL
3. BOP
4. DGKC
5. DSFL
6. ENGRO
7. FABL
8. FCCL
9. FFBL
10. FFC
11. HUBC
12. KAPCO
13. KESC
14. LUCK
15. MCB
16. MLCF
17. NBP
18. NML
19. OGDC
20. PIAA
21. PICB
22. PICIC
23. POL
24. PPL
25. PPTA
26. PSO
27. PTC
28. SNGP
29. SSGC
30. TELE
31. AICL
32. CTTL
33. BOSI
34. NCL
35. ANL
36. PCCL
37. JOVC
38. DCL
39. TRG
40. WTL
41. SNBL
42. KOHC
43. PRCBL
44. STPL
45. SPCB
46. JSIB
47. NETRSOL
48. CHBL
49. Attock Refinery
50. Attock cement
51. AHSL
52. INDU
53. ICI
54. PRL
55. Cherat cement
56. Packages
57. PSMC
58. ABL
59. FNEL
60. Pak Electron
61. Bank Al habib
62. Millat Tractor
63. Pakistan Cable
64. KSE
65. BOC
66. THALL
67. SECURITY PAPER
68. APL
69. Ferzoz sons

Buying in cement averts big losses at KSE

Buying in cement and some notable scrips averted big losses at the Karachi stock market on Monday as the KSE 100-share index lost 45.97 points, but maintained 10,100 level amid slightly increased turnover of 180.229 million shares.

The market capitalisation fell by Rs13 billion to Rs2.835 trillion. It is pertinent to mention here that the newly introduced KSE 30-index fell by more points (72.88 points) as compared with the 100-index, pointed out an analyst, adding that 30-index was not depicting true trading picture, but showing weightage of some monopolised scrips that were misguiding true investors. The 30-index was showing big ups and downs as compared to the earlier working indices at the KSE, he added.

KSE breaches four barriers in reverse gear

The Karachi stock market breached four barriers in reverse gear – 9900, 9800, 9700 & 9600 – on Friday against the expectation as there was no big negative news for the day. The index plunged by 370.44 points to 9,584.79 amid low turnover.

Leading local institutions and brokerage houses offloaded their holdings to manipulate market for their vested interest, a broker said.

Index remained under selling pressure throughout the day and recorded intra-day low of 9,555.03 points.

More financing modes available at bourses

Investors at capital market after reaching the limit under Continuous Funding System (CFS) have more avenues to finance shares to purchase, like in-house badla, futures options and other derivatives, soon to be formulated.

After being effective from August 22, 2005, the CFS in 14 scrips has reached its upper limit of Rs 25 billion.

The response of the market to the announcements made after the meeting of brokers, SECP and Prime Minister, which included launching of CFS, launching of Pre-Trade Verification System and increased tenors for future contracts, was very positive and the KSE-100 index gained 278 points, with trading volumes increasing by 69 percent on day-to-day basis from less than 200 million to over 300 million shares.

Share prices fall more than 4 percent

Share prices suffered yet another massive fall and saw widespread declines across the board where heavyweight scrips were the main losers and the index lost 400 points as bears tightened their stranglehold. The KSE-100 index registered a drop of 401.50 points, or 4.23 percent, to 9097.92 from 9499.42. The volume declined to 154 million shares down from 456 million shares. The market capitalisation decreased to Rs 2.485 trillion from Rs 2.589 trillion.

Tanvir Abid, head of research at Live Securities, said that continuation of the slide in the market could be attributed to the crisis in Balochistan, political uncertainty in Sindh and investors attempting to square their long March futures contracts. Volumes remained abysmally low.