KARACHI, Jan 30: The share market on Wednesday failed to extend the overnight run-up on profit selling in some of the high-profile issues under the lead of PSO, Arif Habib Securities and some others apparently ahead of new monetary policy. The KSE 100-share index shed 19 points at 13,990.11.

The State Bank will announce monetary policy for the current fiscal policy tomorrow, highlighting the state of the economy and investors’ worries about the inflation and allied problems.

Uncertainty about the interest rate in the backdrop of global trend of easing to arrest possible slow down in economy also took its toll in the form of profit-selling at the overnight higher levels, analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali said.

The KSE 100-share index shed 18.89 points at 13,990.11 as compared to 14,009 a day earlier as leading base shares came in for modest profit-selling. But on the other hand KSE 30-share index rose by 5.85 points at 16,663.01.

It should have suffered much bigger loss but the strength of the MCB, which rose sharply higher, curtailed it to a modest proportions.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti attributed the lack of follow-up support to fears about the law and order situation, notably Tuesday’s police operation and killing of four terrorists and two police officials.

He said the KSE 100-share index should have built up strong base above the barrier of 14,000 points on the strength of higher payouts but some immediate concerns, including central bank’s quarterly report due to be released tomorrow, confined it to a modest level.

Analysts Ashraf Zakaria said the index should have sustained level of 14,000 points build-up brick by brick during the last couple of sessions, volatile performance of the leading players kept it as a hostage for no apparent reason.

How the market reacts to central bank’s fresh initiatives to keep the current rate of growth in place will determine the future trend of the share market, he added.

JS & Co and Hino Pakistan were leading among the gainers, up by Rs62.85 and 29, followed by National Foods, East West Insurance, Pakistan Engineering, BOC Pakistan, Shell Gas, JS Global, AKD Capital and Bata Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.50 to 25.40.

KSB Pumps and Arif Habib Ltd, were leading among the losers, off by Rs10.50 to 15.75. Other prominent losers included Dawood Lawrence, National Refinery and Pakistan Refinery, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Attock Petroleum, Dawood Hercules, Packages, Mitchell’s Farms, EFU Life, and Shell Pakistan, off by Rs5 to 10.15.

Trading volume suffered sharp contraction at 181m shares as compared to 235m shares a day earlier as losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 218 to 128m, with 32 shares holding on to the last levels.

Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim topped the list of actives, up by 65 paisa at Rs43.25 on 17m shares followed by Bosicor Pakistan, steady by 25 paisa at Rs21.60 also on 17m shares, Dewan Salman, lower by 10 paisa at Rs8.25 on 12m shares, TRG Pakistan, firm by 10 paisa at Rs13.10 on 8m shares, Arif Habib Securities, off Rs2.60 at Rs177, MCB, sharply higher by Rs6.35 at Rs388.50 on 5m shares and PSO, off Rs3.90 at Rs439 on 4m shares.

Other active were led by Netsol Technologies, higher by Rs2.55 at Rs137.25 on 8m shares, Javed Omer & Co, off Rs3.50 at Rs134.50 also on 8m shares and NIB Bank, lower 35 paisa at Rs22.80 on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Arif Habib Bank led the list of actives on this counter, lower by Rs1.30 at Rs30.20 on 6m shares followed by MCB, sharply higher by Rs5.40 at Rs388.50 on 4m shares and Dewan Salman, easy by 20 paisa at Rs8.30 on 2m shares.