Three-day bullish run comes to an end

Stocks end three-day bull-run as investors booked profits ahead of key court case hearing.

KARACHI: Stocks ended the three-day bull-run on Tuesday as investors booked profits ahead of a key court case hearing on Wednesday.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.29 per cent or 30.22 points lower at 10,292.33.

“The Supreme Court will hear the case of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) with speculation that the government may land in the soup as it has failed to adhere to court directives,” said Elixir Securities equity dealer Mohammad Rameez.

With fears of added political uncertainty, investors adopted a cautious approach and preferred to remain on the sidelines, added Rameez. Trade volumes fell to a paltry 51.89 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 88.84 million shares.

Pakistan Oilfield remained the star performer of the day, jumping 1.3 per cent on talk of buying interest by a large state-owned fund, an analyst said.

Among refineries National Refinery and Pakistan Refinery gained 1.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

United Bank recorded bulk of the volumes, but closed almost flat at Rs52.8.

Shares of 406 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day, 162 stocks closed higher, 223 declined and 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.73 billion.

Major activity was seen in small-cap stocks, an equity dealer said. Descon Oxychem was the volume leader with 5.8 million shares gaining Rs0.99 to finish at Rs4.5. It was followed by Dewan Motors with 2.39 million shares gaining Rs0.07 to close at Rs1.47 and Atlas Bank with 2.07 million shares losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs2.3.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2010.