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However, Wednesday was a better trading day than the previous two at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) as the benchmark 100-share index only fell by 16.64 points or 0.17 per cent.
Traders tested the psychological level of 10,000 but failed to sustain gains amid selling. “Profit taking was witnessed after the bid pattern of today’s T-bill auction was released, which gave rise to expectations of the cut-off yields for various maturities to increase by 25-40 basis points,” according to Muzzamil Mussani at JS Global Capital Limited.
Meanwhile, volumes continued to be on the lower side reflecting lack of interest in the absence of major earnings announcement, according to Sibtain Mustafa at the Elixir Securities’ equity sales desk.
Investors opted to remain on the sidelines as volumes fell by almost 35 per cent to 61.5 million shares compared with the 94.2 million shares traded on Tuesday.
Additionally, leading investors were reluctant to commit fresh money owing to recent flood related destruction and its possible inflationary pressures on the economy, according to Mustafa.
Shares of 374 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day, 162 stocks closed higher, 180 declined and 32 remained unchanged. The value of the shares traded during the day was Rs2.6 trillion.
Hub Power Company (HUBCO) emerged the market leader with a volume of 8.7 million shares traded during the day. The scrip gained Rs0.91 to close at Rs36.42 per share – an increase of 2.6 per cent.
Arif Habib Securities (AHSL) followed with 5.61 million shares traded. The share closed three per cent higher at Rs30.05. Investors are expecting that a decent dividend will be declared by the company. Even though the board of the company met yesterday to finalise the outgoing year’s financials, the results will be announced today. Jahangir Siddiqui and Company witnessed a trade of 4.71 million shares.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2010.
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