November 21, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 15, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 20: Heavy buying in PTCL and Hub-Power triggered apparently by the election of the pro-government National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker pushed the KSE 100-share index further higher, although it finished well below the day’s peak at 2,356.75, up 24.22 points, on late selling at the inflated levels in Wednesday’s briskly traded session.

The post-speaker election political scenario is still unclear and a section of leading analysts fears the “future sailing on the political front may not be that smooth if one bases his assumption on the Tuesday’s National Assembly vote count”.

Some others say the peaceful election of the National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker enthused investors as it cleared the way for the formation of government at the centre after the election of the leader of the house on Thursday.

Massive activities both in PTCL and Hub-Power, however, tells a different story and some leading analysts claim the advent of strong foreign fund buying. Both were traded sharply higher.

“The tally of secured votes of the pro-regime candidate was certainly not that impressive as it could mean thing to the emerging strong opposition”, fears a leading stock analyst “out of the 328 polled votes the figure of 167 is too small to command a decisive majority in the house 372”.

“If the opposition led by PPPP and the MMA joins hands, which together polled a couple of less votes as compared to winner, the manoeuvring may tell a different story”, another commenting on the speaker election said.

The consensus among the leading analysts was that the future sailing on the political front may not be that smooth if the leader of the House could not get a decisive vote in Thursday’s election.

And that factor worried investors too who are being told of the continuation of the current robust rally in the coming weeks also.

“It is too risky at this time to go beyond the limits at least until the political indicators from Islamabad are positive”, one broker said adding “despite the fact that major leading parties, PPPP and MMA are still poles apart and the pro-government party could have an easy win again”.

But on the other hand economic indicators are pretty encouraging in the backdrop of visiting US Treasury Secretary statement that the US economic aid to Pakistan will continue.

The market is also witnessing steady inflow from the money market to the stock market owing to continued weakness of the dollar and attractive return on investment in stocks.

The KSE 100-share index posted a fresh gain of 24.22 points at 2,356.75, breaching through the barrier of 2,350-point as key stocks, notably PTCL Hub-Power attracted strong support. It reacted from the day’s peak of 2,370.00 points on late institutional selling.

Lading gainers were led by Nestle MilkPak, Pakistan Oilfields, Unilever Pakistan, Siemens Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, up by Rs9 to Rs20. They were followed by Millat Tractors, Clariant Pakistan, Fauji Fertilizer, Tri-Pack Films and several others, rising by Rs1.50 to Rs3.50.

Losers were led by Grays of Cambridge, General Tyre, Packages, Treet Corporation and Pak-Reinsurance Co, off by Rs2 to Rs17.50.

Trading volume soared to 304m shares from the previous 248m shares a day earlier as gainers maintained a strong lead over the losers at 158 to 67, with 41 holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by Hub-Power, up by 30 paisa at Rs28.95 on 84m shares, followed by PTCL, higher by 30 paisa at Rs23 on 74m shares, Sui Northern, firm by 60 paisa at Rs19.20 on 35m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, up by 10 paisa at Rs8.55 on 16m shares and D.G.Khan Cement, up by 55 paisa at Rs13.65 on 13m shares.

Other actives were led by PSO, lower 20 paisa on 11m shares, Fauji Fertilizer, higher by Rs3.50 on 8m shares, National Bank, easy five paisa on 7m shares, Engro Chemical, lower 10 paisa on 6m shares and Dewan Salman, unchanged on 5m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Hub-Power again led the list of actives on this counter also, up by 40 paisa at Rs29.05 on 20m shares followed by PTCL, higher by 40 paisa at Rs23.10 on 11m shares, PSO, firm by 10 paisa at Rs193.60 on 7m shares, Sui Northern, higher by 75 paisa at Rs19.35 also on 6m shares and Fauji Fertilizer, higher by Rs1.25 at Rs63.35 on 1.364m shares.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Active trading was also witnessed on this counter as a section of investors played on both sides of the market. Suzuki Motorcycles led the list, up by 50 paisa at Rs7.80 on 25,500 shares followed by Ghandhara Industries, up by 50 paisa at Rs3.50 on 16,000 shares and Custodian Modaraba sharply higher by Rs1.50 at Rs5.85 on 12,000 shares. Pangrio Sugar came in for active support for the second day and rose by five paisa at Re1 on 10,000 shares. Some others also netted large volumes.