KARACHI, Oct 2: Stocks on Wednesday shrugged off the overnight easiness as the PSO-led robust recovery engulfed the entire market and drove bears out of the arena at least for the near-term.

The market virtually witnessed “buystops” in most of the pivotals on the perception that the pre-election snap rally could be sustained on the strength of speculative buying in the blue chips such as PSO, PTCL and Hub-Power.

The KSE 100-share index finished close to the day’s best level, up 24.31 points at 2,029.76 as compared to 2,005.45 a day earlier, indicating “bear onslaught may not be able to push it below the barrier of 2,000 points at least for the near-term.

The market capitalization swelled to three-year peak level of Rs466 billion, up over Rs6 billion as leading base shares posted sharp gains.

Literally, it was the PSO day as at one stage all roads led to it. The rumour behind the speculative squeeze was that bidding will be held on Oct 8 to sell-off official stake in it to one of the short-listed strategic buyer.

“It was a positive investor reaction to the “undisclosed trading” system being introduced by the KSE next Monday”, stock analysts commenting on the new most modern and transparent trading system said “it will eliminate, what they called, herd culture and speculative activity.”

Unlike the previous trading system, the details of the trades being transacted through the Karachi Automated Trading System and the names of buyers and sellers, counter parties and participants will not be disclosed to any one.

But some others said each new system needs a fair amount of time to be fully understood by those who will man it but one hopes it will be successfully implemented after a fair trial. It may have a big toll in terms of daily volumes until the short-term dealers, day traders and jobbers are pushed into the main stream of the trading community.

The “undisclosed trading system”, is claimed to be in practice in many developed stock markets of the world, notably the western bourses and the KSE will join the select band by next Monday.

The low volume for the second session in a row reflects that both buyers and sellers are not inclined to have bigger stake even on the blue chip counters because of election uncertainties.

“Those who have a fair idea of the outcome of national elections are a little worried and hate to miss the falling market,” says a broker.

Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of pivotals, notably PSO, Island Textiles, General Tyre, Unilever Pakistan, Shell Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, up by Rs4.55 to Rs11.05.

Other good gainers were led by Cherat Cement, Adamjee Insurance, Fauji Fertilizer, Reckit and Benckiser, Tri-Pack Films, which posted gains ranging from Rs2.05 to Rs3.20.

Losers were led by Fazal Textiles, Rupali Polyester, Atlas Honda, Abbott Lab, Ghani Glass, Noon Pakistan and HinoPak Motors, off one rupee to Rs1.95.

Trading volume rose to 111m shares from the previous 91m shares as advancing shares forced a strong lead over the losing ones at 169 to 91, with 69 shares holding on to the last levels.

PSO topped the list of most actives, sharply higher by Rs4.45 at Rs200.50 on 33m shares followed by PTCL, up by 15 paisa at Rs20 on 11m shares, Hub-Power, higher also by the same amount at Rs23.90 also on 11m shares, Adamjee Insurance, higher by Rs2.45 at Rs46.10 on 8m shares and Fauji Fertilizer, up by Rs2.50 at Rs55.35 on 6m shares.

Other actives were led by Engro Chemical, higher by 75 paisa on 5.365m shares, National Bank, up by 55 paisa on 3.748m shares, Telecard, firm by 40 paisa on 3.296m, MCB, steady by 20 paisa on 3m shares and ICP SEMF, higher by 75 paisa on 2.172m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Speculative issues on the forward counter also followed the lead of their counterparts in the ready section and finished recovered under the lead of PSO, which rose by Rs3.50 at Rs162.40 on over 6m shares.