KARACHI, Jan 17: Stocks on Monday finished with an extended gain as investors continued to build-up long positions on selected counters, notably PTCL and bank shares
, apparently signalling that the market has absorbed the negative fallout of the tense situation in Sui, Balochistan. The KSE index recovered another 73.18 points from the previous loss at 6,633.01.
Shares of both Sui Southern and Sui Northern Gas rose sharply on active support reinforcing the investor perception that the worst may have been averted. A circuit breaker has to be applied to forestall further increase in the share value of the latter, which soared by Rs4.20 on 38m shares.
But analysts said many may not agree but the fact is that the Sui situation may have a long-term negative impact on stock trading in the coming weeks as cut in gas supplies would affect industrial production and push costs.
The KSE 100-share index finished with a fresh rise of 73.18 points at 6,633.01 as compared to 6,559.83 at the last weekend as leading index shares posted fresh good gains. Market capital also recovered Rs18.515bn at Rs1,836.746bn.
Floor brokers said investors were targeting PTCL and bank shares partly on privatization news and partly to higher earnings as most of them still have the potential to rise further.
However, it was essentially PTCL-led rally, which hold a substantial weight age in the index and of OGDC, which remained under pressure early owing to bad news from the Sui gas fields, but later recovered and kept the market in a positive mood.
As fertilizer and textile sectors remained under pressure on selling prompted by fears of a sharp cut in their annual earnings owing to suspension of gas supplies, investors are rolling positions to a relative safer counters, analysts said.
The next two sessions will be crucial for the future market direction and the behaviour of bargain-hunters and speculative forces how they view the future share business outlook in the backdrop of tension in Balochistan and fears of a big showdown, they said.
"I don't think big ones could take a breather after pushing the index to their next chart point of 7,000 in post-eid holiday sessions" and added what next will be guided by the negative fallout of the Balochistan situation".
Apart from PTCL, the market advance was led by National Bank, MCB, Bank of Punjab, Askari Bank, on active support followed by reports of higher interim earnings.
Prominent gainers were led by Gatron Industries, Arif Habib Securities, Shell Pakistan, Atlas Honda, Aventis, AKD Securities and Siemens Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs10 to Rs46.
Other good gainers included Farooq Habib Textiles, Umer Fabrics, Gul Ahmed Textiles, Sapphire Textiles, National Refinery and Dawood Textiles Hercules, up by Rs6 to Rs7.70. Losers were led by Nestle MilkPak, off Rs25, followed by Al-Abid Silk, BOC Pakistan, IGI and Pakistan Services, off Rs3.10 to Rs8.65. Others fell modestly.
Trading volume was maintained on the higher side investors rolled positions from the high-risk areas to the safer haven, totalling 521m shares as gainers maintained a strong lead over the losers at 218 to 149, with 33 shares holding on to the last levels.
PTCL topped the list of actives, up by Rs1.25 at Rs52.80 on 95m shares followed by OGDC, higher 30 paisa at Rs77 on 59m shares and National Bank, up by 85 paisa at Rs98.80 on 49m shares, Sui Southern Gas, up by Re1 at Rs29.05 on 44m shares, and Sui Northern Gas, higher by Rs4.20 at Rs61.50 on 38m shares.
Other actives included Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, up by 45 paisa on 31m shares, PICIC Growth Fund, higher by Rs155 on 22m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by Rs1.40 on 17m shares, Hub-Power, firm by 55 paisa on 16m shares and MCB, higher by Rs2 on 15m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PPL came in for active selling and fell by 70 paisa at Rs142.65 on 29m shares followed by PTCL, up by 95 paisa at Rs53 on 15m shares, Sui Southern Gas, up by 80 paisa at Rs29.15 on 8m shares and Sui Northern Gas, sharply higher by Rs3.95 on 7m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Crescent-Standard Bank again came in for modest support and rose by 50 paisa at Rs15.50 on 0.424m shares followed by Dawood Fibre, up by 40 paisa at Rs8.20 on 0.132m shares and Qayyum Textiles, higher by 15 paisa at Rs2.15 on 0.110m shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Brothers Textiles, on Jan 18, Bilal Fibre and BOC Pakistan, on Jan 18.
