March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

KARACHI, March 27: Stocks on Thursday firmly maintained their upward thrust for the third consecutive session as the lure of capital gains did not allow financial institutions to sit on the sidelines and they continued to build-up long positions on selected counters.

The KSE 100-share index breached through the psychological barrier of 2,700 points for the second time during the recent past as institutional traders were not inclined to take even a technical breather but retailers were still reluctant to ride the bandwagon. Higher dividend and bonus shares from the insurance sector was an aiding positive factor.

After testing the high of 2,730.00, it finally ended around 2,719.19 as compared to 2,695.13 a day earlier up 24.06 points, reflecting the strength of leading base shares. It has gained 66 points since last Friday and how will it behave tomorrow being the last session of the current week will set its future direction.

Bulk of the support again originated from the financial institutions as general investors are not inclined to take new positions amid fears of prolonged Iraq war and its negative impact on the south Asian economies.

Reports from across the border are also not very encouraging after the killing of 24 Hindus in Kashmir a couple of days earlier and Indian claim of Pakistan involvement. The situation on the line of control in Kashmir is said to be a bit tense.

“But the lure of capital gains is there”, brokers said adding “in the similar situations as the prevailing one only institutional traders could take risk because of their financial capacity not the retailers”.

The steep decline in bullion rates to Rs6,300 from its recent highs of Rs7,000 per 10 grams also reflects flight of capital from the most-trusted safe haven to the share business apparently for quick gains in a rising market.

But dollar stayed week against the rupee despite reports of a considerable decline in the inflow of the US currency from the Gulf, notably Dubai, dealers said.

HinoPak, Central Insurance, Pakistan Refinery, Dawood Hercules and Wyeth Pakistan, which rose by Rs5.05 to Rs43 were leading among the gainers. Wyeth Pakistan reacted bullishly to reports of 25 per cent cash dividend.

ICP SEMF, Javed Omer, Century Insurance, Habib Insurance, IGI, Attock Refinery, Crescent Steel, Balochistan Wheels, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Pakistan Gum Chemicals, Rafhan Maize and Security Papers also rose by Rs2 to Rs8.05.

Losers were led by Al-Ghazi Tractors, Abbott Lab, Allawasaya Textiles, Nestle MilkPak and Siemens Pakistan, off Rs1.70 to Rs14.45.

Modest trading volumes, about 80 per cent of which remain confined to half a dozen shares reflects that all is not well with the market despite some bright patches here and there.

And that is perhaps why retailers and small savers are keeping themselves away from the arena as most of them are more worried over the outcome of Iraq war rather than stock trading.

Trading volume showed a modest rise at 181m shares from the previous 161m shares as the advancing shares maintained a strong lead over the losing ones at 217 to 60, with 58 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was again topped by PTCL, unchanged at Rs24.35 on 45m shares followed by Sui Northern Gas, firm five paisa at Rs24.75 on 29m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, steady five paisa at Rs11.45 on 16m shares, PSO, lower 40 paisa at Rs205.40 on 12m shares and PIAC(A), up by Rs1.05 at Rs9.30 on 8m shares.

Other actives were led by Dewan Salman, up by 25 paisa on 5m shares, MCB, higher by 75 paisa also on 5m shares, Dewan Motors, up 45 paisa on 4.846m shares and Bosicor Pakistan, unchanged on 4m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Trading activity on this counter was relatively slow as leading speculators mostly played safe owing perhaps fears about the outcome of Iraq war.

PSO came in for modest selling and fell by 20 paisa at Rs205.80 on 3m shares followed by PTCL, up by 14 paisa at Rs24.39 on 2m shares and Sui Northern Gas, firm by five paisa at Rs24.75 on 0.846m shares and Engro Chemical, up by 90 paisa at Rs84.65 on 0.774m shares. Their April settlements also followed the trend of the ruling contracts.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Active trading was witnessed as about a dozen shares came in for alternate bouts of buying and selling. Suzuki Motorcycles again led the list of actives, unchanged at Rs8 on 15,000 shares followed by S.S.Oil, also unchanged at Rs3.10 on 12,000 shares and Metropolitan Steel, up by 85 paisa at Rs14.25 on 7,500 shares.

DIVIDEND: Central Insurance, cash 30 per cent bonus shares 20 per cent, Highnoon Lab cash 15 per cent, bonus shares 10 per cent, Century Insurance, interim 10 per cent, Habib Insurance cash 20 per cent, bonus shares 33.33 per cent and Wyeth Pakistan cash 25 per cent.

BOARD MEETINGS: Platinum Insurance on March 29 and Kashmir Edible Oil on April 15.