KARACHI, April 21: The KSE 100-share index on Monday briefly crossed the barrier of 15,700 at 15,740 points but failed to sustain it and finished with a modest decline of 21.55 points at 15,664.79 points amid profit-selling on the blue chip counters, notably oil sector.

The selling was partly attributed to a number of rumours, notably exposure problems of a leading broker and brief suspension of trading owing to technical fault in the IT section but the underlying sentiment remained uppishly inclined.

Another negative factor was official hint at cut in margins of oil marketing companies followed by active selling in this sector under the lead of PSO and Shell Pakistan, which dragged the entire market along with them in the minus column.

“The talk of a massive correction in an overbought market failed to get currency as investors are not inclined to take a bearish view of the market at least for the near-term”, said a leading analyst Faisal A. Rajabali.

“Investors have developed a new mode of correction, known as self-correction mechanism during intraday trading, which rules out the possibility of a major fall,” he added.

He said investors pushed prices of choice scrips early or mid-session and took profit at the rise by way of correction as was indicated by highly erratic price movements each day.

The interesting feature of the session was that trading had to be suspended for about 20 minutes owing to technical fault in the IT section but the loss of the time was compensated after extending the official closing time, dealers said.

“The fact that the index has sustained the 15,600 level for the last couple of weeks shows that investors are not inclined to loosen their grip on the price line at least for the near-term,” said a leading equity analyst Ashraf Zakria, adding the “next target of 16,000 or above may now not be an elusive goal.”

He said when buyers outnumber sellers, there is no reason to believe that the market will bow down on stray selling that, too, from small investors.

“Highly erratic price movements on the blue chips counters reflect that investors are in the process of changing portfolios apparently from the high-profile issues to the low-priced ones having a potential of capital gains,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti thinks.

He said lower lock in Maple leaf Cement on conflicting reports about the earnings but subsequently its management reported a higher interim profit, which pushed its share value higher, which attracted active support from the punters.

Leading gainers were led by Unilever Pakistan and AKD Capital, up by Rs39 and Rs38.25, followed by Central Insurance, EFU Life, JS Global, Pakistan Reinsurance Co, Lakson Tobacco, Mari Gas, Ferozsons Lab, Packages, Service Industries, Clover Pakistan, Unilever Pakistan, Colgate Pakistan and EFU General, which posted gains ranging from Rs8 to Rs37.90.

Prominent losers were led by Wyeth Pakistan and Shell Pakistan, off by Rs100 and Rs22.10, respectively. They were followed by Arif Habib Ltd, National Refinery, PSO, Dadex, Sanofi-Aventis and National Foods, which suffered decline ranging from Rs5.20 to Rs21.

Trading volume fell to 225m shares from the previous 285m shares as losers forced a modest lead over the gainers at 173 to 153,with 38 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by Maple Leaf Cement, up 40 paisa at Rs21.65 on 16m shares followed by JB Bank, up one rupee at Rs21.95 on 10m shares, Arif Habib Securities, off Rs2.25 at Rs186.25 on 10m shares, Nishat Mills, lower by Rs1.45 at Rs132.80 on 9m shares, Sitara Peroxide easy by Rs1.05 at Rs78.30 also on 9m shares, Engro Chemical, up by Rs1.35 at Rs372.10 on 8m shares and Hub Power, up Rs1.10 at Rs34 on 6m shares.

Other actives included Callmate Telips, higher by 85 paisa at Rs10.90 on 9m shares followed by Pace Pakistan, steady by 20 paisa at Rs39.20 on 8m shares and Pervez Securities, sharply higher by Rs4.40 at Rs92.70 on 6m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Sitara Peroxide led the list of actives, off Rs1.30 at Rs78.70 on 6m shares, JS Bank, higher by 95 paisa at Rs22.10 on 4m shares, Nishat Mills, off Rs1.53 at Rs133.07 on 3m shares and Pace Pakistan up 45 paisa at Rs39.20 also on 3m shares.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Norrie Textiles came in for active support and rose 55 paisa at Rs2.50 on 4.641m shares followed by Invest Capital Bank spot, higher 50 paisa at Rs5.90 on 0.852m shares and Zeal Pak Cement, steady by five paisa at Rs6.65 on 0.493m shares.

Mukhtar Textiles on the other hand came in for stray selling and fell by 10 paisa at Rs2 on 0.260m shares, S.S. Oils, up Re1 at Rs16.55 on 0.124m shares and Taj Textiles, unchanged at Rs2.15 on 0.122m shares.

DIVIDEND: D.S. Industries, bonus shares at the rate of 100 per cent, Crescent Steel and Allied Products, third interim, cash 10 per cent.

BOARD MEETINGS: Kot Addu Power, Attock Refinery and PSO on April 22.