KSE support fund buys shares

KARACHI: The full amount of Rs20 billion Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) support fund, which was set for rescuing KSE out of crisis, has now been received and the fund is buying all the selected shares.Nation Investment Trust (NIT) Chairman and State Enterprise Fund CEO, Tariq Iqbal Khan told Geo News in program ‘Tezi Mandi’ that the fund was buying shares of the prescribed eight companies and added that those advising brisk buying, why they themselves were not buying in the market. He termed the news about the fund not having received the full amount baseless and said that the market support fund’s full amount existed in the bank with full guarantee. He further said that this was the best time for buying, as the shares prices were at low-levels.

Microsoft slams broad market; bottoming continues

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With even Microsoft Corp. unable to predict the future, the market is likely facing for weeks to come a steady stream of companies offering equally murky views of the year, in what analysts say is part of the bottoming process for stocks.
"You've had positive news -- Apple -- and negative news -- Microsoft and EBay -- and, while good and bad, mostly bad, the stock market has just traded sideways for about three months now," said Dan Greenhaus, equity strategy group, Miller Tabak & Co.
This, he added, "is what you see as markets enter a bottoming process."
Others see the same process happening in the broader economy.
"The difficulty for the market is on the one hand, the economic data is dismal, and we get reminded of that on an almost daily basis. However, there are some early indicators we might be in a bottoming process for economy," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group Inc.
Those early indicators include mortgage rates falling back below 5%, and improvement in the TED spread, which measures financial stress, from 4.6% after Lehman Brothers went bust to around 1%, said Sheldon.
On Thursday, stocks declined but closed off session lows as investors drew some cheer from the White House, which said it would do what it could to bolster the economy.
Down more than 250 points during the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average [$INDU] ended down 105.3 points, or 1.3%, to stand at 8,122.8.
Twenty-four of the Dow's 30 components finished with losses, fronted by Citigroup Inc. [C] , off 15.3%.
The S&P 500 [SPX] declined 12.75 points, or 1.5%, to 827.49, with financials, energy and information technology pacing losses among the index's 10 industry groups.
Telecommunication services, health care and consumer staples fared the best.
The Nasdaq Composite [COMP] stumbled 41.58 points, or 2.8%, to 1,465.49.
The finish marked a sizeable comeback from losses that followed a pre-opening jolt, when software titan Microsoft [MSFT] reported an earnings drop and said it plans to shed as many as 5,000 workers. It declared itself unable to offer a forecast for the remainder of 2009, citing economic uncertainty.
"We've been rallying since noon and rallying quite hard since 1:40 [p.m. Eastern] on the backs of financial and tech names which have come off their lows considerably," said Greenhaus, who gave Microsoft, IBM [IBM] and Ebay Inc. [EBAY] as examples.
Meantime, Apple Inc. [AAPL] pulled close to its high of the day, And in the financial space, Morgan Stanley [MS] and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. [GS] took off, "and the market followed suit," said Greenhaus.
Bucking the negative trend, Apple Inc. [AAPL] reported quarterly profit that topped expectations, with its shares rising 6.7%.
The patchy results overall -- combined with bleak economic data on jobs and housing -- had equities under water throughout the day.
Bear bottoms
Looking back at previous bear markets, the so-called 'V-shaped bottom' doesn't generally appear to be in evidence. Instead, equities fall to "whatever level becomes the bottom, then [engage in] horizontal trading" for a period of time, said Greenhaus.
Once the stock market found its bottom in 2000, it moved sideways for about 11 months, while the 1990 bear market involved six months of lateral trade, the analyst said.
Depending on the length and depth of the recession, "we could trade in this channel for two years. We have to consider the possibility that we could trade laterally for longer than most people think," said Greenhaus.
For the S&P, Greenhaus expects the trading range to be from about 800 to 1,000.
"At 740 (for the S&P), the market started to get a handle on valuations going forward, if you assume earnings going forward are $60.00, and the market tends to find a bottom at 12 or 13 times forward earnings, saying 60 times 13 is 720 - 12 or 13 times 60 bucks is about where the market found a bottom," he said.
"If you assume market is going to earn 60, 65 bucks going forward, then fair value is reached in upwards 700s. That said, if this current recession proves deeper and longer, and we have continued earnings revisions to the downside, that would further depress stock prices. That is the issue going forward, to what positive effect do these government moves have?"
To that end, Thursday's session included a Senate panel's approving Timothy Geithner to be the next Treasury secretary, with the nomination now moving to the full U.S. Senate.
"As we get closer to the confirmation of Geithner as the new Treasury secretary, that could help lift market spirits as hopes for the second part of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program] comes into focus along with the quick passage of the Obama stimulus package," said Cardillo.

Wall Street plunges on banking woes

NEW YORK: US stocks plunged Tuesday as renewed fears about the global banking sector offset optimism surrounding the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 332.13 points (4.01 percent) to 7,949.09 at the closing bell, slipping below the key level of 8,000. The Nasdaq composite sank 88.47 points (5.78 percent) to 1,440.86 and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 44.90 points (5.28 percent) to a preliminary close of 805.22.The carnage was concentrated in the financial sector, with Citigroup sinking 19 percent on worries it may require a new bailout or nationalization. Bank of America lost 28 percent and JPMorgan Chase 20 percent. "The current leaning indicates that Mr Obama's honeymoon period will be a short one -- it may already be over," said Patrick O'Hare on media. "It also indicates the concern that exists about a nationalization of the banking system.Those concerns hit a new level yesterday as word from the Royal Bank of Scotland that it could post a loss of as much as 41.3 billion dollars for fiscal 2008 helped trigger a new round of intervention by the UK that some believe will ultimately lead to a full-scale nationalization of RBS and perhaps the banking system in the UK," he added."After the week Bank of America, Citigroup and others had last week, similar concerns, unthinkable just 18 months ago, continue to fester here at home."

Global stocks in grip of losses on worsening economic indicators

SINGAPORE: The world stock markets this week for the investors brought losses, as the worsening data on global economy kept pouring in.Despite Barack Obama’s $825 billion bailout package announcement, US stock markets remained downbeat and both the index Dow Jones and NASDAQ declined by 3.6 percent and 2.7 percent respectively. Besides, Asian markets’ Hong Kong’s Heng Sang plummeted by 7.3 percent and closed at 13255 points, while Japan’s Nekkei-225 gaining 17 points wrapped up at 9323 points. Following Indian Satyam scandal, Mumbai KBSE Sensix-30 kept plunging and index this week falling by 5.7 percent closed at 8230 points. On the other hand European stock markets were also seen in the negative terrain and despite Germany’s announcement of $66 billion bailout package DAX-30 index tumbled down by 8.3 percent and closed at 4366, while Britain’s FTSE-100 index eroded by 6.7 percent and France’s KCAC-40 index lost 8.2 percent.

US stocks tumble on disappointing retail sales

NEW YORK: US stocks fell hard Wednesday on dismal retail sales data and renewed concerns over the health of banks. The Dow Jones industrials slid 249.37 points or 2.95 percent at the close.A darkening outlook for companies from banks to retailers to energy producers has pummeled Wall Street Wednesday. Government figures have show retail sales declined more than expected in December and concerns about troubled balance sheets are weighing on banks. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 248, or 2.94 percent, at8,200 after being down more than 300 points earlier in the session. Broader indexes are down more than 3 percent. The Dow has now fallen for six straight sessions.

Heavy selling squeezes 272 points from KSE

KARACHI: Bears came back to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Thursday, eroding 272 points from the benchmark KSE-100 Index which closed at 5,778.Investors seemed cautious in the wake of growing Indo-Pak tensions while foreigners off-loaded their holdings in energy stocks which put the market under pressure throughout the session.Trade volume shrank by 40 million shares to 400 million as compared to yesterday’s trade.OGDC was the volume leader which lost Rs2.73 to close at Rs52. KSE-30 Index plummeted by 308 points to finish the day at 5,510.

China's exports, imports drop

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's exports declined for the second straight month in December, a byproduct of the global economic crisis, Chinese state media reported Tuesday.
December exports fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 21.3 percent as the nation dealt with the decline in international trade and the weak U.S. economy, according to customs figures quoted in the newspaper China Daily.
Exports fell 2.2 percent in November. The drop in exports for the second consecutive month marked the first such instance in a decade, the newspaper reported.
The decline was attributed to falling demand in the United States and the European Union.