04 November 2004	Thursday	20 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Nov 3: Stocks on Wednesday rose further but finished well below the day's highs as investors closely watched the vote-count in the US presidential election and mostly played on both sides of the fence. After rising early by 85 points, the KSE 100-share index ended with a modest gain of 22 points at 5,351.51.

A formidable section of leading investors took positions on selected counters amid hopes of President Bush remaining in the White House, while others feared that a Kerry victory could lead to some changes in the US policy on Pakistan.

Early indications of President Bush's victory boosted stock trading as both punters and leading institutional traders indulged in a fresh speculative buying on selected counters, signalling a sustained run-up in the coming sessions.

The performance of the market earlier was, however, highly erratic as it danced to the tune of US election results. At one stage the KSE 100-share index was up by 85 points followed by reports of a big lead being attained by Mr Bush over his rival. But when his lead was reduced to a few votes, it fell from the early highs.

The snap decline from the early high was attributed to fears about changes in the US policies towards Pakistan in case of a Kerry victory as brokers believed that a Bush victory would mean continuity.

The KSE 100-share index finally finished with a modest rise of 21.63 points at 5,351.51 as compared to the previous 5,329.88 points as some of the leading shares managed to finish modestly higher.

When reports came that President Bush needed only 16 Electoral College votes for his re-election the market rose, drawing its own conclusions about the shape of things to come, brokers said.

"Americans have again voted Bush to power," analysts said, adding that "in his association with the Pakistani elite during his first four-year term he has established himself as a trusted friend of Pakistan."

"Investors have more than one reason to celebrate his possible victory," others said. "It also means continuity in the local financial and economic policies as the sitting government is expected to go with him."

The US dollars may not flood the local bourse as investors there may have other options, and trade and industry are expected to benefit owing to increased access into the US textile and other markets, they said.

All leading shares, notably those which have been under pressure during the previous sessions, including cement, bank and energy, showed fresh gains on active short-covering.

Trading volume rose to 320m shares from the previous 188m shares as gainers maintained a strong lead over the losers at 158 to 112, with 47 shares holding on to the last levels.

Nestle MilkPak and Javed Omer were among the leading gainers, up Rs34 and Rs13.10, followed by Artistic Denim, Atlas Honda, Lakson Tobacco and Shezan International, higher by Rs5.05 to Rs9.15.

Other good gainers included Arif Habib Securities, Attock Refinery, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Millat Tractors, Unilever Pakistan, Zulfiqar Industries, and Mari Gas, up by Rs3.90 to Rs5.05.

Losers were led by Security Papers, Pakistan Engineering, Abbott Lab, Colgate Pakistan, Berger Paints, National Refinery and Ferozsons Lab, off Rs3 to Rs8 on stray selling.

The most active list was topped by Bank of Punjab, higher by Rs1.30 at Rs57.80 on 35m shares followed by OGDCL, unchanged at Rs65.80 on 27m shares, PTCL, firm by 15 paisa at Rs38.35 on 18m shares, National Bank, lower 50 paisa at Rs70.75 on 17m shares and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, lower 10 paisa at Rs20.85 on 13m shares.

Other actives were led by D.G. Khan Cement, off 70 paisa on 13m shares, Hub-Power, higher by 30 paisa on 11m shares, Lucky Cement, off 75 paisa on 10m shares, PSO, up 50 paisa also on 10m shares and PICIC Growth Fund, higher 75 paisa also on 10m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PPL November settlement came in for modest selling and was marked down by 35 paisa at Rs116.80 on 16m shares followed buy OGDCL, lower five paisa at Rs66.25 on 8m shares, and Bank of Punjab, higher by Rs90 paisa at Rs57.75 on 7m shares. PTCL and PSO followed them, up 15 paisa and unchanged at Rs38.55 and Rs261.85, respectively, on 5m and 4m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Crescent-Standard Bank again came in for active support and rose by 15 paisa at Rs9.95 on 0.341m shares, while all others shares were fractionally traded in the absence of strong demand.