Buying support in oil refining companies helped the stock market averted large declines on Friday as PTCL and OGDC received heavy battering, resulting in a meagre decline at the end of the session on weekend. The KSE-100 index moved down to 7588.94 from 7589.07 of Thursday. The volume was reduced 173 million shares as against 213 million shares.
The market showed erratic movement, as investors were reluctant to execute fresh deals on weekend considerations. The index during the morning session was up by 10 points but before closing at 12 noon it witnessed selling pressure and finished with small losses.
During the second session the market scored an intra-day high of 24 points, but selling wiped out all gains, resulting in a meagre loss. However, according to a trader, the inherent sentiment was strong as despite selling pressure in heavyweights--PTCL and OGDC showing a decline of Rs 1.10 and 0.25 rupee respectively--the index recorded a small fall. Hectic buying in NBP, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum and some second-tier stocks helped consolidate the overall trend of the bourses.
Hasnain Asghar from Aziz Fidahusein said that taking a lead of the reaction by the international markets on the London bomb blasts the KSE opened on a negative note. Finally, the official request forwarded by the KSE management for a parallel COT-17 market with margin financing did invite resistance to the expected technical adjustment. But the confusion on a recommended halt on a weekly badla phase-out as against the agreement with SECP never allowed the index an exciting move.
However, acceptance of the proposal made by the KSE management to the SECP would allow the index an initial bull-run and then consolidation on strength thereby allowing the index to make new highs of the current rally. Technically, the index would continue to face resistance around 7696-7703 while major support stays at 7450-7457.
PTCL on business of 28 million shares suffered a fall of Rs 1.10 to Rs 64.20. NBP improved by Rs 1.60 to Rs 109.80 on turnover of 26 million shares. OGDC fell 25 paisa to Rs 108.75 on trading of 25 million shares. Pakistan Oilfields closed at Rs 298.40, ie Rs 1.40 on deals of 12 million shares, and Pakistan Petroleum registered an increase of Rs 2.45 on transactions of 10 million shares.