The KSE benchmark 100-share index rose 0.34 per cent, or 33.07 points, to end at 9,715.39 points.
Turnover was only 63 million shares compared with 83.21 million shares traded on Tuesday.
“There was not much interest in the market as indicated by the low volumes and probably the investors are more focused at the moment on closing their books for the fiscal year ending June 30,” said Sajid Bhanji, a director at Arif Habib Ltd.
Uncertainty over the implementation of a capital gains tax from July 1 has also discouraged investors, dealers said.
In its budget for the 2010/11 fiscal year, the government announced that a capital gains tax of 10 per cent would be imposed on stocks held for six months or less and 7.5 per cent on stocks held for six months to a year.
Dealers said the government had previously agreed with the exchange that the capital gains tax would be levied only on profits made from the start of the 2010/11 fiscal year on July 1.
But now there are concerns the government may seek to tax gains made before that date and demand quarterly tax returns instead of the annual filing preferred by brokers, they said.
“The proposal which is before parliament is that the capital gains tax will be imposed on all stocks sold after July 1, whenever they’ve been bought,” Asif Bajwa, special secretary at the Ministry of Finance told Reuters on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s turnover was a mere 63.4 million shares compared with 83.2 million shares traded on Tuesday. The total exchange value stood at Rs2.55 billion.
During the day’s trade, 150 stocks closed higher, 243 declined and 35 remained unchanged in value.
Byco Petroleum (KSE: BYCO) was the volume leader with 6.62 million shares gaining Rs0.17 to close at Rs11.25. Azgard Nine (KSE: ANL) came second with 5.79 million shares gaining Rs0.08 to end at Rs11.72. Jahangir Siddiqui Company (KSE: JSCL) came third with 4.05 million shares losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs13.04.
There was some buying interest in a couple of blue chips. Engro Corporation (KSE: ENGRO) closed at Rs184.48, up 1.5 per cent and Oil and Gas Development Company grew two per cent to end at Rs135.71.
Bestway Cement (KSE: BWCL) was the KSE-100 top gainer of the day, its share price rising 7.69 per cent to finish at Rs14.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2010.
