The market opened on a negative note and kept on declining almost throughout the day. During the day's trading, once the market took U-turn and recovered about 25 points but could not sustain due to lacking buying support.
The analysts said the investors amid panic like situation were getting out of the market to secure their position ahead of possible tussle between the judiciary and the government, particularly following the issuance of detail judgement on NRO case. Besides, the statement of the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, wherein he feared that al Qaeda militants could trigger war between India and Pakistan also made the investors more scared who offloaded their holdings to avert financial loss.
As a result, most of the blue chips including PSO, Attock Refinery, Pak Oil Fields, PPL, Habib Bank, MCB Bank, National Bank, NIB Bank, Bank of Punjab, Bank Alfalah, Adamjee Insurance, Engro Corporation, Arif Habib Securities, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Nishat Chunian, Lucky Cement, and Pace Pakistan registered losses. Both the factors disturbed the sentiments that pushed down the market which needs encouraging news on the economic and political front, the analysts said.
The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 105 companies, 18 showed strength and were closed in green zone, 48 suffered losses, while 39 companies stayed unchanged at their previous levels. ICI Pakistan gained Rs 6.69, Mari Gas was improved by Rs 3.48, First Capital Equities was appreciated by Rs 3.25, while Crescent Steel and Allied and Byco Petroleum Pakistan were up by Rs 1.46 and Re 1.00, respectively.
Among losers, PSO lost Rs 7.40, Habib Bank was declined by Rs 6.52, Attock Refinery shed Rs 6.52, while Pak Oil Fields and Adamjee Insurance were down by Rs 6.25 and Rs 5.70, respectively. Lotte Pakistan was the market leader whose 5.828 million shares changed hands followed by Bank Alfalah with trading of 1.268 million shares.