KARACHI - After losing 2 per cent last week, the stock market witnessed dull activity on the first trading session of the week as the Karachi Stock Exchanges benchmark 100-share index ended 0.24 percent, or 22.69 points, lower at 9,591.50. Turnover was 87.12 million shares, down from 140.66 million shares on Friday. The most traded stocks were LOTPTA (34m shares), TRG (26m shares), FFBL (6.2m shares), BYCO (4.9m shares) and WTL (4.7m shares). Volumes in blue chip items were quite thin as most of the investors stayed on the sidelines. The market moved in a narrow band of 9,567 and 9,655 levels. Hub Power Company informed its investors via announcement at local bourses that EPCs contractor will be unable to meet the Commercial Operation Date of March, 2010, and has requested an extension till September, 2010. This will however have no impact on HUBCs earnings and fundamentals, as the cost of delay will be borne by the contractor. On the other hand, the KSE 30-index closed at 10020.44 with a loss of 35.74 points. The KMI-30 index closed at 14161.45 with a loss of 54.34 points, while all shares index closed at 6804.24 with a loss of 16.90 points. Trading activity was minimal as compared to the last trading session as the ready market volume stood at 136.903m as compared to last trading sessions 183.998m. Future market volume, however, stood at 1.008m shares as compared to 25.696m shares of last trading session. Market capitalization stood over Rs2.760tr, as total trades decreased to 67,331 as compared to last trading sessions 83,679, while 156 companies advanced, 212 declined and 18 remained unchanged. Highest volumes were witnessed in LOTPTA at 32.551mn closed at Rs11.54 with a gain of Rs0.19 followed by TRG at 24.712mn closed at Rs3.68 with a gain of Rs0.43, FFBL at 5.819mn closed at Rs32.35 with a gain of 0.52 Some news that affected the trading activities at the market were: massive hike in POL prices; Qadirpur gas field: OGDC and SNGPL misleading Ministry; SBP keeps policy rate unchanged at 12.5 percent; $1.32 million exits bourses; and 700mmcfd gas likely soon. Hasnain Asghar Ali, a market expert, the chain reaction of the recent increase in local petroleum products besides increasing the input cost for exports the rise in inflationary pressures will further contract the economy, thus, further reducing the purchasing power of the local consumers, thereby painting a gloomy future for local produce. 'Staying partially invested in the stocks indicating consistency in growth in revenue and payouts, opting for going liquid in the stocks likely to stay under pressure, will prove prudent, short term trades with identified stop-loss will keep the blood pressure balanced, he added.