January 2, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 28, 1423

KARACHI, Jan 1: The sustained run-up witnessed on the stock market during the fading days of the last year was halted on Wednesday as a long awaited technical correction made deeper inroads into a highly overbought bull market but future outlook appears bullish. The KSE index fell by 35 points at 2,666.53.

Forward section also followed the lead of ready counter where, barring Hub-Power, all the leading shares received heavy battering under the lead of PSO and Engro Chemical, off each by Rs2.25.

The market may have witnessed a major shakeout at the current inflated levels, massive renewed buying in Hub-Power maintained a judicious balance between the two-way operations by the bulls and the bears.

The reaction was, however, widespread and covered all the sectors, overvalued shares notably on the energy counter, were in the forefront of major losers on persistent selling.

The KSE 100-share index suffered a fall of 34.89 points at 2,666.53 after earlier hitting the day’s peak level of 2,725 points and the lowest at 2,658, a correction of 90 points viewed in the backdrop of Tuesday’s highest level of 2,748.00.

“We don’t think the current bull-run is overdone”, leading brokers claim “best levels are still to come after the current phase of technical correction is over”.

An old adage “So goes the market as goes the January”, meaning the market follow the trend of its maiden session throughout the year “may not be in line with its outstanding performance as much has changed both on the political and the financial fronts and money is flowing in the share business like anything”.

The market had, during the last week of the previous year risen beyond anybody’s guess on strong institutional support and needed correction that came in the form of profit-selling.

“Each technical correction after sustained run-up adds to the inherent strength of the market”, brokers said adding “it keeps the wheels moving as profits are reploughed in the share business”.

After witnessing a lot of profit-selling during the maiden session of the new year, leading stocks attracted good support at the lows and finished recovered.

Energy shares remained under pressure under the lead of oil marketing giants on active selling followed by fears of decline in sales after an increase in prices of petroleum products. Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields and PSO being in the forefront of major losers.

Minus signs dominated the list under the lead of Island Textiles, BOC Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields, Rafhan Bestfoods and Unilever Pakistan, off Rs4.25 to Rs12.

They were followed by Fateh Textiles, Lakson Tobacco, Pakistan Refinery, Shell Pakistan, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Engro Chemical, Wyeth Pakistan, Nestle MilkPak and Tri-Pack Films, off Rs1.50 to Rs4.

Leading shares, which managed to put on fresh gains were led by Crescent Steel, Lawrencepur Woollen, Mitchell’s Fruits, Dawood Hercules, Arif Habib Securities, Husein Sugar, and 18th ICP were leading, which rose by Rs1.45 to Rs11.25.

Trading volume fell to 542m shares from an all-time high figure of 689m shares as losers forced a strong lead over the gainers at 235 to 79, with 47 shares holding on to the last levels.

Hub-Power came in for strong support in anticipation of higher dividend and ended higher by 40 paisa at Rs40.50 on 287m shares, more than a half of the total volume followed by PTCL, easy 65 paisa at Rs25.35 on 98m shares, ICI Pakistan, higher by 65 paisa at Rs54.60 on 34m shares, PSO, off Rs3.50 at Rs208 on 29m shares and Sui Northern Gas, lower by Rs1.10 at Rs23.60 on 28m shares.

Other actives were led by FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, easy 30 paisa on 10m shares, Pak PTA, steady by 10 paisa on 5m shares, Engro Chemical, off Rs1.65 also on 5m shares, D.G.Khan, lower 45 paisa on 4m shares and National Bank, lower 90 paisa on 4m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Speculative issues also followed the lead of their counterparts in the ready section, out of 13 shares 10 were marked down. Hub-Power was, however, an exception, which rose by 30 paisa at Rs40.70 on 51m shares.

PTCL fell by 70 paisa at Rs25.65 on 22m shares, PSO, sharply off Rs2.25 at Rs210.75 on 11m shares, Sui Northern Gas, easy one rupee at Rs24 on 5m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, lower 35 paisa at Rs9.35 on 3m shares. Engro Chemical fell by Rs2.25 at Rs91.05 on 1.542m shares.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Unlike the previous sessions, trading activity on this counter was relatively slow as only a dozen shares came in for two-way activity.

Metropolitan Steel came in for strong buying and rose by Rs1.40 at Rs21 on 37,000 shares followed by Quice Foods, lower 20 paisa at Rs1.40 on 26,000 shares and Automotive Battery, unchanged at Rs6 on 9,500 shares.

DIVIDEND: Gul Ahmed Textiles, cash at the rate of 50 per cent for the year ended September 30, 2002 and Reliance Weaving cash 7.5 per cent for the same period.