KARACHI, Nov 1: Stocks finished the weekend session on a firm note as an attractive bait of higher capital gains did not allow investors to sit on the fence even for a short-term, although the situation is fraught with high risks in the backdrop of political standoff. The KSE-100 index crossed the barrier of 2,300 points at 2,305 but failed to sustain it.

Bulk of the speculative buying remained confined to PSO and Engro Chemical on market talk of interim bonus shares. Both finished close to their circuit breakers on both the counters, up Rs5.70 and Rs5.10 respectively.

But on the forward counter PSO performed credibly on heavy speculative buying and rose by Rs6.25 to finish at Rs203.25 on a massive activity of about 12m shares. Other leading shares on auto and chemical sectors also showed sharp gains under the lead of Dawood Hercules, which rose by Rs7.

After breaching through the psychological barrier of 2,300, at 2,305.00, the KSE 100-share index finished reacted in the afternoon session at 2,294.63, up 16.09 points as the leading base shares ended further higher under the lead of PTCL on strong support.

Bulk of the support again remained confined to pivotals, notably PTCL, Hub-Power and PSO followed by some second-liners as no one is inclined to miss the rising market at this stage.

Analysts said investors led by the financial institutions are least worried about the post-election political scenario and are guided by higher corporate results and rising foreign aid prospects.

“But the advent of foreign buying on selected counters now is not ruled out, although leading foreign funds deny it”, they said “it too early to predict about the logical end of the current speculative run”.

“All the leading brokerage houses and the institutional traders have gone mad”, commenting on the present bull squeeze an analyst says jokingly “From where the support is originating and why is pretty difficult to pinpoint”.

“I don’t call it an inspired run-up but I don’t find many cogent reasons behind the price flare-up and massive buying in the backdrop of state of the economy or the political standoff”, he adds.

Plus signs again dominated the list, big gainers being Adamjee Insurance, Arif Habib Securities, Pak Reinsurance Co, Dawood Cotton, Noon Sugar, Hinopak Motors, Bata Pakistan, Cherat Papers, Ghani Glass and Treet Corporation, which posted gains ranging from Rs2.40 to Rs14.40.

Wyeth Pakistan led the list of losers, off Rs32 on active selling followed by Siemens Pakistan, which also suffered sharp setback of Rs13.70 amid active two-way trading.

Other prominent losers were led by Javed Omer, IGI Insurance, Al-Abid Silk, National Refinery, Gatron Industries and Shell Pakistan, which fell by Rs2 to Rs3.05.

Trading volume fell to 347m shares from the overnight two-year peak level of 454m shares but gainers maintained a strong lead over the losers at 178 to 112, with 55 remain pegged at the last close.

PTCL again topped the list of most active as higher working results continued to generate fresh buying at the lower levels, up by 25 paisa at Rs22.05 on 68m shares, Hub-Power, firm by 20 paisa at Rs26.60 on 61m shares, Engro Chemical, sharply higher by Rs5.10 at Rs75.10 on rumours of bonus shares on 30m shares, and FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, steady 15 paisa at Rs8.05 on 16m shares.

Other actives were led by Sui Northern Gas, higher by 30 paisa on 15m shares, MCB, firm by 15 paisa on 11m shares, Telecard, up by 75 paisa on 11m shares, Adamjee Insurance, higher by Rs2.85 on 9m shares and National Bank, up by 10 paisa also on 9m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PSO came in for fresh strong buying aided by start of formalities leading to its sell-off, up by Rs6.25 at Rs203.25 on 11.894m shares followed by Hub-Power, higher by 25 paisa at Rs26.75 on 9.649m shares.