23 March 2004	Tuesday	01 Safar 1425

KARACHI, March 22: Stocks on Monday resumed trading on a higher note followed by active follow-up in selected shares but finished well blow the day's best levels on late selling.

The KSE index failed to sustain the weekend level of 5,000 after early rising sharply higher to 5,021 points, off 2.23 points at 4,997.91.

A lot of profit-selling was witnessed towards the fag-end of the session as traders and weak-holders took profits at the initial higher levels because of Tuesday's closure on account of Pakistan Day public holiday. But OGDCL came in for strong support and turned out to be a massive volume of 131m shares, up 95 paisa at Rs56.35.

Leading bulls appear to be in an upbeat mood hoping to stay above the recently attained index level of 5,000 and are in the process of devising new strategy to keep bears out their domain. The firm closing ahead of the closure in part, despite a lot of late selling, reflects no one among them is inclined to give a breathing space to the destabilizing forces.

The KSE 100-share index early rose to 5,021 points, but due late selling ahead of Tuesday closure, it failed to sustain the initial gains and finished below the weekend level at 4,997.91, reflecting the weakness of some leading base shares, notably PTCL and PSO.

Indications are that it could build on this benchmark during the next couple of sessions as there is no change in the basic positive fundamentals and investor perceptions about the future market outlook.

"There is a lot of liquidity floating around and is ready to flow in the share business after the Tuesday's closure as the index level of 5,000 has assured them there may not be any looking back," brokers said.

After having attained the crucial level of 5,000 on last Friday, the KSE 100-share index has qualified to be quoted on the Morgan Stanley Composite Index (MSCI) along with the other emerging markets.

The total market capital has risen to $23 billion at the index level of 5,000, the MSCI benchmark being $20 billion, making the KSE bourse more attractive for the foreign investors.

"Leading foreign funds having massive funds at their disposal to invest in shares and securities do not enter those markets whose capital base is below $20 billion," KSE chairman Arif Habib says. "One should hope for the inflow of foreign buying in a big way in the coming weeks."

The investors' interest, both local and foreign, could be sustained in Pakistan's equities in future also as share of half a dozen state-owned units, including some big power entities, will be on sail during the next six months.

And added to it are encouraging news from the corporate sector in the form of higher earnings and enhanced dividend for the current year, brokers said. Minus signs dominated the list after several sessions of run-up, major losers among them being Nestle MilkPak, Siemens Pakistan and Parke-Davis, off Rs13 to Rs20.

Other prominent losers were led by EFU Life, Mehmood Textiles, Crescent Steel, Al-Ghazi Tractors, International Industries, BOC Pakistan, Clover Pakistan, and IGI Insurance, which suffered fall ranging from Rs2.25 to Rs10.

All, however, was not bad with the broader market as some of the leading shares managed to finish higher under the lead of Lakson Tobacco, Shell Pakistan, Dawood Hercules, Fauji Fertilizer, Dadex, Atlas Honda, and Central Insurance, which posted gains ranging from Rs2.20 to Rs6.

Trading volume showed further decline at 371.074m shares as compared to 398.072m shares a day earlier owing to the absence of leading bears. Losers held a comfortable lead over the gainers at 223 to 181, with 52 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by OGDCL, higher by 95 paisa at Rs56.35 on 131m shares followed by Fauji Cement, easy 10 paisa at Rs13.85 on 27m shares, FF Bin Qasim, up 45 paisa at Rs20.90 on 22m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, firm by 25 paisa at Rs49.25 on 21m shares and Lucky Cement, lower 10 paisa at Rs31.75 on 19m shares.

Other actives were led by PTCL, easy five paisa on 10m shares followed by PIAC, lower 30 paisa also on 10m shares, Hub-Power, up 15 paisa on 9m shares, National Bank, lower 15 paisa on 8m shares and Maple Leaf Cement, off 40 paisa also on 8m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: FF Bin Qasim came in for active trading and rose by 41 paisa at Rs20.76 on 3m shares, PSO, off 41 paisa at Rs286.99 also on 3m shares, Hub-Power, up 24 paisa at Rs37.94 on 2m shares, MCB, up 20 paisa at Rs47.80 on 1m shares and PTCL, off 24 paisa at Rs33.71 also on 1m shares.

The notable feature was that most of the leading shares showed odd gains or losses in apparent effort by bulls to forestall further fall or rise in their share values.

DEFAULTER COS: Asset Investment Bank led the list of actives, up 95 paisa at Rs5 on 0.744m shares followed by Mehran Jute, higher by 65 paisa at Rs4.30 on 0.327m shares and Unity Modaraba, firm by 10 paisa at Rs1.80 on 0.197m shares.

DIVIDEND: Security Investment Bank, cash 10 per cent, bonus shares at the rate of 15 per cent for the year ended Dec 31, 2003.

BOARD MEETINGS: Pak-Suzuki Motors, Masood Textiles on March 25; National Bank of Pakistan on March 26; Business & Industrial Insurance, EFU Life and EFU General Insurance on March 27; and New Jubilee Life Insurance on March 29.