KARACHI, April 11: Stocks on Friday finished higher under the lead of blue chips as leading institutional traders were back in the market and covered positions at the lower levels after having taken into account their inventories. The KSE 100-share index rose 25.79 points at 2,870.71.
The weekend rally may not have relevance to fresh developments on the Iraq war front but some analysts shared the view that the war may now be over, although disappearance of president Saddam along with his high command from the scene leaves many question marks.
The bulk of buying, therefore, remained confined to a dozen selected shares as investors seem to be in no mood to go beyond the safe havens until the situation in post-war Iraq is clear.
“Peace in Iraq at least for short-term may still be elusive,” one broker fears. “The allied forces may have to go a long way to achieve it despite the possible collapse of the command but where has it gone may well prove the decisive factor in the days to come.”
The KSE 100-share index posted a modest rise in the backdrop of Thursday’s major network fault and reflected that it was fully corrected leading to a smooth re-opening. It was quoted higher by 25.79 points at 2,870.71.
Analysts said the market was sure to attain its pre-reaction level of well over 2,900 points possibly during the current month if there is no change in the sell-off date of PSO scheduled for April 26.
But some others fear the Privatization Commission may have to extend the date by another two to four weeks as two of the short-listed strategic bidders hail from the Gulf.
“If the current turmoil in Iraq continues and normalcy does not return, the PSO sell-off deadlines may have to be extended to ensure a fair price from the Gulf buyers,” they said. “At the moment they may be terribly involved in the happening in Iraq and its impact on the neighbouring countries.”
Any further extension in the PSO date could trigger a lot of selling both from the genuine investors as well as the financial institutions as they will prefer to covering positions at the falling prices.
Plus signs dominated the list, major gainers being Arif Habib Securities, Unilever Pakistan, Treet Corporation and Wyeth Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs14.60 to Rs35.
They were followed by Pakistan Cables, Aventis Pharma, Pakistan Services, Cherat Papers, Attock Refinery and Gatron Industries, up by Rs3.05 to Rs6.75. There were several other good gainers too, the gains ranging from Rs2 to Rs2.50.
Losers were led by Javed Omer, Dawood Hercules, BOC Pakistan, Bata Pakistan, Al-Ghazi tractors, Gillette Pakistan and Bhanero Textiles, off Rs1.45 to Rs4.
Trading volume rose to 248m shares from the previous 104m shares as gainers maintained a fair lead over the losers at 169 to 89, with 53 shares holding on to the last levels.
Sui Northern led the list of actives, higher by Rs1.15 at Rs26.35 on 50m shares followed by reports of higher earnings, Hub-Power, up 20 paisa at Rs35.45 on 35m shares, PTCL, firm 30 paisa at Rs24.85 on 28m shares, FFC-Jordan Fertilizer, steady by 20 paisa at Rs12.50 on 23m shares and Pak PTA, higher by 25 paisa at Rs8.55 on 21m shares.
Other actives were led by PSO, higher by Rs2.20 on 20m shares, National Bank, up 40 paisa on 8m shares, PIAC, up 85 paisa also on 8m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, unchanged on 6.891m shares and ICP SEMF, easy five paisa on 6m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PSO led the list of actives on this counter on active short-covering and rose by Rs2 at 213.50 on 12m shares followed by Hub-Power, higher 30 paisa at Rs35.60 on 9m shares and PTCL, up 35 paisa at Rs24.95 on 7m shares.
Sui Northern Gas and FFC-Jordan Fertilizer followed them, up Rs1.05 and 15 paisa at Rs26.35 and 12.45 on 5 and 3m shares respectively.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Suzuki Motorcycles attracted selling at the higher level and fell by 25 paisa at Rs12 on 0.172m shares followed by Quice Foods, up 20 paisa at Rs1.40 on 5,000 shares and Shahpur Textiles, lower 10 paisa at Rs2.10 on 4,500 shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Thal Jute, B.F. Modaraba, Rafhan Maize Products, Kohinoor Energy, Century Papers, on April 17, Crescent Leasing, on April 17, International General Insurance on April 18 and Pakistan Gum Chemicals, on April 21.
