KARACHI, Dec 13: Stocks on Monday shrugged off the weekend easiness as investors covered positions at the lower levels aided partly by strong year-end buying on selected counters by institutional traders.
The rally was terribly broad-based and covered all sectors under the lead of textile shares and blue chips on other counters amid another briskly traded session.
The market's bullish mood was well-reflected in the KSE 100-share index, which not only wiped out the weekend losses but finished with a fresh smart gain of 57.46 points at 5,758.28 as compared to 5,700.82 at the last weekend as leading base shares finished fully recovered under the lead of PTCL and some others.
The total market capital also hit a high mark of Rs1,600.014 billion, up Rs15.213bn from the last Friday's close of Rs1,584.801 billion -- a six-month high, but it is still far below its peak level of over Rs1,700 billion.
There was no trace of the weekend sell-off as bulls drove bears out of the market after lifting bulk of the floating stocks both at dips and rise and they might have good reasons to remain on the winning side. But there was no immediate stimulating factor both on the corporate and political fronts to which the resumption of the market run-up could be attributed, brokers said.
"I don't think bulls could loosen their grip on the rising market before hitting the new target of 6,000 after due consolidations," predicts a leading stock broker. "But the question whether or not the rise is genuine or speculative is anybody's guess."
However, one thing is clear the bulk of the support is confined to some leading index shares as well as those whose floating stock is pretty difficult to find but they have a substantial weightage in the index and that speaks of the meteoric and sustained rise in it, some others said.
"The current market run-up is not speculative," they claim. "It has behind a certain perception based on the basic market fundamentals and perhaps a peep through the future."
There could be some technical corrections here and there in the backdrop of a massive rise in badla investment (Rs30.7 billion} and volume, which could take away 100 or odd points, but it would be followed by strong covering purchases at the lower levels, they said.
Prominent gainers were led by Treet Corporation, Artistic Denim, Bhanero Textiles, Island Textiles, and Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs10 to Rs25. Other good gainers included Pakistan Engineering, Aventis, Crescent Steel, Pakistan Refinery, Zulfiqar Industries, National Refinery and Pakistan Cables, which posted gains ranging from Rs5 to Rs8.50.
Losers included IGI Insurance, Quetta Textiles, EFU General Insurance, Shell Pakistan, Sitara Chemicals and Siemens Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs2.25 to Rs25.
Trading volume suffered a sharp decline at 452.686m shares as compared to 580m shares at the last weekend. Gainers maintained a strong lead over losers at 306 to 101, with 46 shares holding on to the last levels.
Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim topped the list of most actives, up 55 paisa at Rs25.90 on 60m shares, followed by PICIC Growth Fund, higher by Rs3.20 at Rs52.20 on 53m shares, PTCL, up 40 paisa at Rs41.25 on 44m shares, Sui Northern Gas, higher 55 paisa at Rs59.95 on 25m shares, Nishat Mills, firm by Rs1.65 at Rs67.95 on 40m shares and Hub-Power, easy five paisa at Rs32.35 on 22m shares.
Other actives were led by Japan Power, up 90 paisa on 24m shares, MCB, higher by Rs1.20 on 17m shares, National Bank, higher by 60 paisa on also on 17m shares and Bank of Punjab, firm 80 paisa on 14m shares.
FORWARD COUNTRER: Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim also led the list of actives on this counter, up 55 paisa at Rs25.95 on 17m shares followed by OGDCL, higher by 70 paisa at Rs66.60 on 15m shares and PICIC Growth Fund, higher by Rs2.95 at Rs52.20 on 7m shares.
Nishat Mills followed them, up Rs1.50 at Rs66.10 on 6m shares, Sui Northern Gas, firm 30 paisa at Rs57.85 on 5m shares. Some others also rose on modest turnover.
DEFAULTER COS: Crescent Standard Bank again led the list of actives, up 55 paisa at Rs11.15 on 0.701m shares but on the other hand S.S. Oil came in for selling and fell by 60 paisa at Rs20.50 on 0.196m shares. Suzuki Motorcycle managed to finish with a fresh rise of Rs1.05 at Rs20.85 on 0.168m shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Fawad Textiles, Pakland Cement, Saadi Cement on Dec 15; Mirza Sugar Mills and Pangrio Sugar on Dec 16; and Haseeb Waqas Sugar on Dec 18.
