July 20, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1423

KARACHI, July 19: Stocks on Friday staged a snap rally as investors were back in the market and made fresh covering purchases at the lower levels ahead of board meetings of some leading companies by the next week and predictions of good payouts.

Bulk of the buying was, however, remained confined to the blue chip counters as investors seem to be in no mood to take undue risks and mostly played safe.

Energy shares led the market advance under the lead of PSO, which spurted by Rs5.75 on market talk of its early privatization followed by Pakistan Oilfields and Shell Pakistan. BOC also rose ahead of its board meeting by the end of the current month.

An idea of strong speculative buying in PSO may well be had from the fact that its share breached through the circuit breaker and stayed well above it. Speculative buying followed market talk of some positive developments in regard to its early privatization, dealers said.

The KSE 100-share index managed to finish with a good gain of 11.95 points close to its target of 1,800 at 1,798.57, but failed to breach through it owing to late selling.

However, the weekend recovery has certainly laid down a firm base for it, broke the barrier on the strength of some encouraging corporate background news, including market talk of good dividend by Hub-Power, BOC Pakistan and some others in their board meeting next week.

“Essentially, it was an anticipatory buying, which enabled the market to close the weekend session on firm note, which in normal trading sessions generally attracts selling,” brokers said.

The bulls seem to have set a new target for the index for the next week and that could well mean a tense battle of wits between the bears and the bulls as the former is not inclined to see it beyond the 1,800 point level owing to their big stake in some of the massively battered issues, they added.

Leading stock analysts are signalling to their clients to be ready for a big haunt by the next week as there could be many pleasant surprises on the selected counters.

Hub-Power, ICI Pakistan, PSO and some others could form the basis for a big run-up and led the market advance. They will certainly attract massive buying in their shares on the forward counters, they added.

PSO and Lever Brothers, which rose by Rs5.75 and Rs11.00 led the list of gainers, followed by Artistic Denim, General Tyre, Abbott Lab, Clariant Pakistan. Packages and Murree Brewery, which rose by one rupee to Rs2.15.

Rafhan Maize and Siemens Pakistan were prominent among the losers, falling by Rs5 to Rs7, while Wyeth Pakistan, and Shafiq Textiles fell by one rupee to Rs1.35, with all other declines being fractional.

Trading volume showed a modest rise at 75m shares from the previous 71m shares as gainers forced a fair lead over the losers at 125 to 91, with 61 shares holding on to the last levels.

Hub-Power led the list of actives, up 15 paisa at Rs24.05 on 15m shares followed by PSO, higher by Rs5.35 on at Rs142.30 on 13m shares, PTCL, firm by five paisa at Rs17.80 on 10m shares, KESC, unchanged at Rs5.10 after it was allowed to raise power rates by 40 paisa per unit, Engro Chemical, up 50 paisa at Rs61.60 on 5m shares and National Bank, steady by 15 paisa at Rs21.35 also on 5m shares.

Other actives were led by Sui Northern Gas, unchanged at the Rs14.15 on 3m shares, ICI Pakistan, up 35 paisa on 2.508m shares, MCB, lower by 10 paisa on 2.014m shares and D.G. Khan Cement, easy 15 paisa on 1.517m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS: Heavy speculative buying in PSO featured the trading on the forward counter where other shares also ended modestly higher. It rose by Rs5.15 at Rs142.30 on 5.039m shares followed by Hub-Power, firm by 15 paisa at Rs24.10 on 3.838m shares and PTCL, up 10 paisa at Rs17.80 on 2.001m shares.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Allied Motors again came in for active support and ended higher by 10 paisa at Rs9.10 on 3,500 shares followed by Suzuki Motorcycles, lower 15 paisa at Rs3.75 on 3,000 shares and National Modaraba, unchanged at Rs0.60 on 1,000 shares.