KARACHI, July 9: The stock market showed signs of recovery on Wednesday as some of the leading oil and banking shares came in for modest short-covering followed by central bank moves to arrest further decline in the value of the rupee, which recovered by three per cent owing to corrective steps. The KSE-index curtailed its daily erosion to only 16.77 points at 11,796.47.

But the recovery strongly manifested itself on the forward counter ahead of the SECP meeting anticipating some positive outcome, where most of the leading shares, including KASB Securities and Engro Polymer recovered from the recent lows.

“The rupee recovered well over three per cent just in a session from its total depreciation of 9.4 per cent and was quoted at Rs71.20 and 71.70 for buying and selling in the kerb after having touched all-time peak level of Rs73.80 and 74 at one stage,” analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali said.

Another aiding factor was SECP-KSE high-ups meeting on Friday (July 11), to have an overview of the corrective steps (lower and upper circuit breakers) taken late last month and possibly to review them in the light of their impact on the market.

“Investors showed keen interest in the proposal to setting up of Rs50 billion market stabilisation fund as it could impart strength to a falling market on the perception of an official intervention to arrest market fall beyond the normal one,” another analyst Ahsan Mehanti said.

He said although news from the political front are not that encouraging, any positive decision in the SECP meeting could also prop up the badly mauled market sentiment in the next week.

“The massive fall in the leading shares during the last couple of weeks could initiate strong rally as investors may not like to miss an attractive bait of handsome capital gains at the current levels,” analyst Ashraf Zakria said.

An early modest rally of 32 points in the index, which rose to 11,845.09 at one stage, reflects that there is a growing realisation among the big ones to be back in the market after having liquidated long positions in the dollar and the gold, which has hit all-time highs during the week.

Leading gainers were led by Packages and Unilever Pakistan, up by Rs11.47 and Rs21.50, followed by Masood Textiles, Crescent Textiles, PSO, Dadex, Singer Pakistan, Ferozsons Lab, United Brands, KASB Pumps and ICI Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs4.05 to Rs10.

Unlike the previous sessions, price fall was modest owing to the absence of leading sellers. JS & Co and Attock Petroleum were prominent among the losers, off by Rs4.98 and Rs4.19, respectively. Others fell modestly under the lead of Habib Bank, Attock Refinery, National Refinery, Pakistan Petroleum, Millat Tractors, Dawood Hercules, Engro Chemical, Clariant Pakistan, Sitara Chemical and Arif Habib Ltd, off by Rs2 to Rs3.74.

Leading oil and banking shares OGDC, Pakistan Oilfields, PSO, Bank Alfalah, and some others were traded on the higher side amid active trading.

Turnover figure showed a fresh rise at 53m shares from the previous 21m shares as losers maintained their lead over the gainers at 159 to 52, with 16 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC led the list of actives, steady by 17 paisa at Rs118.50 on 7m shares, followed by MCB Bank, off Rs3.10 at Rs307.31 on 4m shares, Hub-Power, firm by 44 paisa at Rs27.39 on 3m shares, PTCL, up 36 paisa at Rs36.77 on 3m shares, PSO, higher by Rs6.80 at Rs414.60 on 3m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs2.31 at Rs229.33 also on 3m shares and Bank Alfalah, up 93 paisa at Rs40 on 3m shares.

Other actives were led by Zeal-Pak Cement, easy by two paisa at Rs2.60 on 4m shares, TRG Pakistan, lower by five paisa at Rs5.85 on 2m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, off one rupee at Rs345.38 also on 2m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: KASB Securities, which had been under pressure since it came on the board, up Rs1.81 at Rs61.40 on 3m shares followed by Engro Polymer, higher by Rs1.12 at Rs23.62 on 2m shares and Crescent Investment Bank, steady by 26 paisa at Rs11.25 on 1m shares.

OGDC on the other hand fell fractionally by 36 paisa at Rs119.25 on 0.983m shares. But PSO rose sharply, by Rs6.36 at Rs417.30 on 0.742m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Stray activity was also witnessed on this counter where Zeal-Pak Cement came in for active profit-selling and was marked down by two paisa at Rs2.60 on large turnover of 4.084m shares followed by Norrie Textiles, easy also by two paisa at Rs2 on 0.206m shares.

BONUS SHARES: AKD Income Fund, 2 per cent, AKD Opportunity Fund, 10 per cent, AKD Index Tracker, 6 per cent, and Reliance Income Fund, 6.89 per cent.