KARACHI, Dec 22: The share market on Monday remained depressed as liquidity crunch continued to haunt investors amid escalating tension with India in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks.

The KSE 100-share index was quoted further lower by 3.95 points or 296.96 points at 7,217.46.

Threatening statements by the Indian leaders on the Mumbai attack issue seems to have created pre-war hysteria on the stock market as some of the leading investors hastened to liquidate their positions at the falling prices but without finding any willing buyer.

“War with India may not be imminent but persistent threats from across the borders has made situation look like so as was reflected by steep fall in the daily volume,” analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali said.

And added to it was various interpretations of Sindh High Court ruling on the outstanding positions on the badla market and talk of revision petition in the Supreme Court and out of the court settlement on the issue, said Ahshan Mehanti.

He said bulls and bears may not be on the same wavelength since the issue of outstanding positions of Rs11 billion came in the press.

According to market sources meetings were being held between the brokerage houses to resolve the issue out of the court to give a breathing space for the unprecedented fall in the trading history of the KSE.

Ashraf Zakaria says the positive news of Rs20 billion market support fund after the IMF approval should have created a sense of security among the investors but delay in its functioning is also taking its toll.

He said there were more sellers than the buyers as no one was inclined to make fresh commitments even at the lower levels on all the blue chip counters despite the fact they now provide an attractive bait for the future capital gains after the recovery process is initiated.

The KSE 30-share, All-Share and KMI indices suffered fresh fall of 385.69, 202.92 and 423.56 points respectively at 7,295.56, 5,300.29 and 8,445.22.

Minus signs again dominated the list, under the lead of bank, insurance and oil sectors, major losers again being Habib Bank, MCB Bank, Adamjee Insurance, EFU General, PSO, Mari Gas, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum, Atlas Battery, Exide Battery, Engro Chemical, Glaxo-SKF, Packages and Unilever Pakistan, which suffered fresh fall ranging from Rs5.48 to Rs91.38.

Barring Pak Datacom and Ismail Industries, which rose by Rs1.66 and Rs1.95, other posted fractional gains notably Colony Textiles, IGI Investment Bank, Muhammad Farooq Textiles, Azam Textiles and Meezan Fund, which rose by 49 to 99 paisa on modest volume.

Out of the 181 actives, 161 shares fell, while only 15 rose, with five holding onto the last levels.

Trading volume fell sharply lower to 28m shares from the weekend’s 85m shares in the absence of leading buyers.

Arif Habib led the list of actives, lower by 88 paisa at Rs4.97 on 4.136m shares followed by NIB Bank, off 50 paisa at Rs4.23 on 3.648m shares, TRG Pakistan easy by 17 paisa at Rs1.97 on 2.597m shares, J.S. Bank off 57 paisa at Rs4.89 on 1.851m shares, Pakistan Cement, easy by 32 paisa at Rs2.53 on 1.501m shares and Bosicor Pakistan, lower 58 paisa at Rs4.36 on 1.252m shares.

Bank of Khyber followed them, off Re1 at Rs5.74 on 1.140m shares, Maple Leaf Cement, lower by 27 paisa at Rs3.59 on 0.979m shares and Fauji Cement, off 50 paisa at Rs4.13 on 0.815m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: All shares on this counter fell sharply lower under the lead of blue chips.

Media Times was an exception which rose by eight paisa at Rs10.98 on 1,500 shares.

All others notably Allied Bank, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum, PSO and other leading banks suffered fresh fall without any deals.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Zeal Pak Cement led the list of actives on this counter, easy by four paisa at Rs0.60 on 1.536m shares followed by Japan Power, lower by 26 paisa at Rs1.55 on 0.373m shares, Unity Modaraba, easy by one paisa at Rs0.30 on 0.164m shares, Haydary Construction, off four paisa at Rs0.60 on 14,000 shares and Quice Foods, up 27 paisa at Rs1.34 on 8,500 shares. Others were also traded lower.