KARACHI, Oct 22: Stocks on Friday resisted larger fall as a section of leading investors covered positions on selected counters at lower levels but the underlying sentiment remained bearishly inclined.
However, some leading investors played on both sides of the fence owing to weekend considerations, indulging in alternate bouts of buying and selling but the financial institutions were conspicuous by their absence.
A late covering purchases made by some of the leading punters in the current favourites, notably PTCL, OGDC, PSO and some others allowed the index to close with a marginal rally of 5.45 points at 5,458.32.
Earlier, it rose to day's peak level of 5,474.74 after falling to 5,444.91 but managed to finish well above the session's low, reflecting that the current corrective movement may be overdone, brokers said.
Opinions are, however, divided over the next week's opening. Some say the market is now ripe for sound rebound at the lower levels aided by higher corporate announcements due during the next week from some of the leading companies.
Some others claim the weakness of broader market indicates that further price erosions may be due by the mid-week next week and thereafter bulls could have a sway after picking blue chips at the lower levels.
Board meetings of about three dozen companies, including Soneri Bank, National Foods, Highnoon Lab, National Bank and several others, are due by the next week and analysts predict higher sales and interim dividend by some of them on which the market could built up it future rally.
The boards of directors of Prime Bank, Attock Refinery and ICI Pakistan, which met on Thursday, announced higher interim profits at Rs242.570m, 277.575m and 2.444 billion, respectively.
Losers dominated the list under the lead of Attock Refinery, Mehmood Textiles, Berger Paints, Atlas Battery, and Unilever Pakistan, which were marked down by Rs3.10 to Rs11.
Some of the leading shares maintained their upward drive and rose by Rs4 to Rs16.40, major gainers among them being Aventis, Valika Art Fabrics, HinoPak Motors, Clover Pakistan, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Shell Pakistan, AKD Securities and Lakson Tobacco. Clariant Pakistan, Dawood Lawrencepur and Mitchell's Fruits also showed good gains.
Trading volume fell to 117m shares owing to a short Friday session. Losers maintained a fair lead over the gainers at 160 to 110, with 44 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC topped the list of most actives, up 20 paisa at Rs66.35 on 20m shares followed by PTCL, easy by 15 paisa at Rs40.90 on 12m shares, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, easy five paisa at Rs20.80 on 7m shares, PSO, up 95 paisa at Rs263.55 on 6m shares, Hub-Power, off 30 paisa at Rs30 also on 6m shares, and D.G. Khan Cement, higher 60 paisa at Rs51.40 on 5m shares.
Other actives included Fauji Cement, lower 30 paisa on 5m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, up 60 paisa on 4m shares and Nishat Mills, lower 60 paisa also on 4m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: OGDCL came in for an active two-way trading and rose by 25 paisa at Rs66.55 on 7m shares followed by PTCL, easy 10 paisa at Rs41 on 4m shares and PSO, higher by Rs1.20 at Rs264.50 on 3m shares.
PPL rose by 25 paisa at Rs121.35, on 3m shares, while D.G. Khan Cement, was marked up by 50 paisa at Rs51.45 on 2m shares. Others were also quoted on the higher side.
DEFAULTER COS: Barring Crescent Standard Bank, which came in for stray selling and fell by 10 paisa at Rs10.15 on 0.104m shares, all others were fractionally traded amid a two-way trading.
