KARACHI, July 10: Stocks lacked normal buying interest on Thursday as investors adhered to the sidelines ahead of SECP-KSE meeting on Friday to have an overview of the last month’s market stabilisation measures taken to arrest persistent fall in share values.

But the steps failed to put the market back on the rails after a brief positive reaction and pushed it further down amid falling daily turnover figures, including an all-time low total of 5.5m shares.

The KSE 100-share index recovered from early fall of about 90 points to close with a trimmed loss of 23.35 points at 11,773.12 on market talk of consensus formula on exit mechanism for some leading shares, notably Habib Bank on the pattern of OGDC carried out during the market crash of 2005.

The interesting feature was that after several lean sessions, the market capital recovered Rs4.669 billion at Rs3,656 billion from the massive loss it suffered in a falling market for the last about two months.

Habib Bank share was quoted higher by Rs16.54 at Rs214.97 in response to talk of exit formula beyond the circuit breakers, analysts said.

However, the leading base shares remained under pressure under the lead of MCB Bank, PSO, OGDC, and Pakistan Petroleum, finishing with an extended decline.

There are more than one rumours circulating in the market about the agenda of the meeting, including revision of the circuit breakers to their original levels, notably the lower one to previous five per cent as compared to the existing one per cent, which analysts claim has taken steam out of the market in the absence of exit facility.

“The proposed $1 billion market stabilisation fund could give an instance boost to the market,” said a leading analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali.

“This may well be the only morale boosting step to restore the badly shaken investors’ interest in the share business.”

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti also held an identical view saying,” To restore the investors’ confidence should be on the top of agenda of the SECP meeting.

The initial response to the SECP corrective steps was positive as was reflected by an all-time high increase of 960 points in the index, the market later ran into a recession amid eroding values, he said.

Habib Bank and Wyeth Pakistan were leading among the gainers, which rose by Rs16.54 and 235, followed by Dawood Bank, Blessed Textiles, Sazgar Engineering, EYE TV, United Brands and Sitara Chemicals, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.26 to 11.16.

JS & Co and Unilever Pakistan were prominent among the losers, off by Rs4.93 and 23.47, respectively. They were followed by MCB Bank, EFU General, Attock Refinery, Attock Petroleum, PSO, Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields, Engro Chemical, Packages and Pakistan Petroleum, off by Rs2.35 to 4.56.

Trading volume again fell to a low ebb at 13m shares as compared to 53m shares a day earlier as gainers trailed far behind the losers at 27 to 153, with 18 shares holding on to the last levels.

MCB Bank again came in for fresh selling, off Rs3.07 at Rs304.24 on 1m shares followed by OGDC, easy by Rs1.18 at Rs117.32 also on 1m shares, Fauji Fertiliser higher by Rs2.20 at Rs127.95 on 0.918m shares, Hub-Power, lower by 27 paisa at Rs27.12 on 0.903m shares, PTCL, steady by two paisa at Rs36.75 on 0.723m shares, PSO, off by Rs4.14 at Rs410.46 on 0.639m shares, Bank Alfalah, lower 40 paisa at Rs39.60 on 0.430m shares.

Other actives included NIB Bank, KESC, and Pakistan Petroleum, easy by 10 paisa, unchanged and off Rs2.29, respectively, on 0.529m, 0.730m and 0.484m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: The activity on this counter remained dull as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting the outcome of the SECP meeting. Price changes and volume figures were on the lower side.