KARACHI, Nov 23: Stocks on Tuesday shrugged off the overnight hesitancy and recovered from the previous lows followed by active short-covering in PTCL, OGDC and some other leading shares
aided partly by higher dividend announcements from the textile sector.
The market also received a major boost followed by reports that Standard & Poor's Credit Rating Agency has raised Pakistan's credit rating on foreign currency debt to plus B and BB for the local currency, analysts said.
The revision is attributed to improvement in Pakistan's economic performance and reduction in foreign debt in the backdrop of viable level of forex reserves above $12.00 billion.
Final cash dividend by Siemens Pakistan at the rate of 300 per cent, cash dividend of 25 per cent by Island Textiles, and 10 per cent cash and an identical amount of bonus shares by the Salfi Textiles and 15 per cent bonus shares by Tata Textiles, were all on the higher side of the analyst predictions and evoked good interest in their respective counters.
After having risen earlier by 36 points, the KSE 100-share index finally finished with clipped gain of 11.93 points at 51,514.49 as compared to 5,502.56 on Monday. The day's peak was touched at 5,538.00. However, the rally was essentially initiated by the two mega state-owned units, notably OGDC followed by reports of new oil and gas discoveries and supported by PTCL amid optimism about its imminent sell-off. The Privatization Commission has already invited Expressions of Interest from the prospective investors by Jan 28, 2005.
Having a greater weight age in the index, both are capable of keeping the market in a good shape during the weeks to come and could initiate a lot of sympathetic buying on other counters also, says a leading broker.
"The market should have scaled new highs in the wake of fresh positive developments both on the political and economic fronts but free float from the carryover market after easing of the rates halted its upward drive", brokers said.
The release of Asif Zardari on bail after eight years of detention on various charges could in a way ease the prevailing tension on the political front amid reports of anti-uniform drive, they said.
"Some of the leading institutional traders are back in the market and have shown renewed interest on more than one counts including the textile shares", analysts said adding "bargain-hunters and speculators are expected to follow them in due course".
The rally was widespread and covered the entire list, although some of the low-priced pivotals attracted bulk of the support amid active trading. Leading gainers were led by Siemens Pakistan, up by Rs39.55 followed by Wyeth Pakistan, higher by Rs83.
Other good gainers included Parke-Davis, up by Rs29 followed by Atlas Battery, Berger Paints, Zulfiqar Industries and Clariant Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs6.70 to Rs9.10.
Losers were led by Aventis, BOC Pakistan, Century Papers, National Foods, Atlas Honda and Shezan International, off Rs4 to Rs7.20. Trading volume suffered a modest decline in the absence of leading sellers and fell to 228m shares from the previous 248m shares but losers trailed far behind the gainers at 140 to 230, with 58 shares holding on to the last levels.
PTCL led the list of actives on sell-off news, up by 35 paisa at Rs40.80 on 42m shares followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, also up by 35 paisa at Rs23.30 on 36m shares, OGDC, higher also by the same amount at Rs66.20 on 15m shares, Nishat Mills, firm by 45 paisa at Rs54.70 on 13m shares and Bank of Punjab, steady by 15 paisa at Rs60.75 on 12m shares.
Other actives included Askari Bank, up by 35 paisa on 11m shares, Lucky Cement, lower 40 paisa on 10m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, easy 20 paisa also on 10m shares, Sui Northern Gas, off Re1 on 9m shares and PSO, lower by 25 paisa on 6m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim again came in for active support and rose by 45 paisa at Rs22.65 on 8m shares followed by PPL, easy 25 paisa at Rs119.65 but PTCL rose by 34 paisa at Rs40.80 on 5m shares. Others showed either-way movements amid alternate bouts of buying and selling.
DEFAULTER COUNTER: Taxila Engineering again came in for strong support and rose by Rs1.50 at Rs13.75 on 0.323m shares followed by Quice Foods, unchanged at Rs4 on 0.152m shares and Crescent Standard Bank, also unchanged at Rs10.40 on 0.114m shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Azgard Nine Limited, on Nov 27, Lafayette Industries, Automotive Battery, Ibrahim Fibre and Exide Pakistan, on Nov 29, and Bilal Fibres, on Dec 1.
