Stocks fall as investors stay away

Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ends 0.29 per cent or 31.22 points lower at 10,874.02 on Friday.

KARACHI: Stocks fell on the last trading day of the week following a gun and bomb attack the previous day in the city.

The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 0.29 per cent or 31.22 points lower at 10,874.02.

The attack on the Sindh police’s main investigation agency, the Crime Investigation Department (CID), near PIDC, on Thursday night left at least 16 people dead and more than 140 injured.

The market, which was expected to recover after a two-day correction, was adversely affected by the bomb blast, said JS Global Capital analyst Arsalan Khan.

The bourse continued to correct itself in line with regional markets despite foreign inflows, said Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal.

Volumes fell to 97.52 million shares compared with 125.22 million shares traded on Thursday.

Decision to introduce reformed GST and a 10 per cent flood surcharge, and the massive bomb blast turned sentiments negative at the bourse, added Khan.

The only trigger for the short term is the introduction of a new leverage product and leaving discount rate unchanged in the upcoming monetary policy, said Elixir Securities equity dealer Muhammad Rameez.

Shares of 361 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 153 stocks closed higher, 189 declined and 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.33 billion.

Lotte Pakistan was the volume leader with 21.76 million shares gaining Rs0.34 to finish at Rs12.05. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 6.27 million shares falling Rs0.35 to close at Rs11.76 and Hub Power Company with 5.93 million shares firming Rs0.99 to close at Rs34.42.

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