KARACHI, Feb 14: The KSE 100-share index on Monday broke through the barrier of 7,300 and firmly stood at 7,341.69, up by 102.93 points followed by renewed fresh covering purchases in most of the pivotals under the lead of OGDC.
The market capital swelled by Rs31.054bn to Rs2,032.122 billion or $37bn.
Trading, therefore, resumed on a bullish note, as bulls were not inclined to give even a breathing space to the bears and kept them at their toes all the time. It was perhaps in this background that trading in the share of Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) was provisionally started at its face value of Rs30 including premium of Rs20 and it finished around Rs65.50 on 31m shares. It will remain open for public subscription from Feb 21 to 24.
It is pretty difficult to predict about the near-term direction of the index as it maintains its winning streak without bear intervention and finally breached through the barrier of 7,300, signalling that the sky may be the limit.
The successive breach of the barriers after one another beyond the 7,000 level during the last couple of session has reinforced investor perceptions that the current buying euphoria and scramble for selected stocks may not be entirely based on speculative thinking but may have some sound corporate reasons behind them, leading analysts said.
Energy shares, notably OGDC and Pakistan Oilfields ably assisted by the cement sector whose board meetings are due during the next couple of days are the chief motivating force behind the current run-up and investors are expected to hold on to their positions until payouts are announced by them.
"No one could precisely predict when the dividend-driven run-up will take a technical breather", analysts said "even the small punters are not inclined to take profits at the inflated levels but rather are buyers". "Unload long positions at any rate", bulls challenge bears "whether or not the market is overbought we are buyers", they said.
The market has entered the danger zone and could take a massive dive on any negative news from the political or below market expectation dividends, fears a broker. However, no one including the sane element is in a mood to have a look on the meteoric rise of the index and whether or not it is backed by prevailing P/E ratio, the yardstick to measure the viability of the flare-up.
Bulls, however, are eyeing the index level of 8,000 for the near-term and beyond after daily pushing prices of leading shares to new peak levels, OGDC and PTCL and some others being the chief targets.
Plus signs were strewn all over the list under the lead of International Industries, Gatron Industries, Atlas Honda, Treet Corporation and Aventis, which tended higher by Rs9 to Rs22.15 followed by Gadoon Textile, Arif Habib Securities, Dawood Lawrence, PPL, Dawood Hercules, PNSC and Indus Motors, up by Rs6.20 to Rs8.25.
Prominent losers included Artistic Denim, Berger Paints, Century Papers, AKD Securities and Wyeth Pakistan, off Rs8.50 to Rs28.75, the largest decline of Rs64.50 being in Wyeth Pakistan.
Trading volume rose to 638m shares from the previous 575m shares bulk of which remained confined to OGDC ahead of its board meeting and reports of higher interim. It finished with a fresh sharp rise of Rs1.65 at Rs90.15 on 103m shares followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, up by Rs1.65 at Rs31.25 on 63m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, sharply higher by Rs4.80 at Rs68.80 on 57m shares and Lucky Cement, up by Rs3.45 at Rs49.50 on 36m shares and Fauji Cement, higher by Rs1.50 at Rs18.25 on 35m shares.
Other actives were led by Hub-Power, firm by 30 paisa on 34m shares, National Bank, higher by Rs2.20 also on 34m shares, PTCL, lower five paisa on 31m shares, Dewan Salman, higher by Rs1.50 on 24m shares and Bank of Punjab, up by Rs155 on 24m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PPL also came in strong speculative buying on this counter and rose by Rs5.30 at Rs163.55 on 70m shares, followed by Kot Addu, higher by Rs55.50 at Rs65.50 on 31m shares, PTCL, off 60 paisa at Rs64.30 on 21m shares, OGDC, up Rs1.80 at Rs90.50 on 17m shares and D.G.Khan Cement, higher by Rs4.85 at Rs69.65 on 14m shares. Others were also actively traded mostly on the higher side.
DEFAULTER COS: Crescent Standard Bank came in for modest selling at the higher levels and eased by five paisa at Rs17.05 on 0.352m shares followed by Indus Polyester, up by 35 paisa at Rs6.65 on 0.170m shares and Unity Modaraba, up by 15 paisa at Rs1.45 on 0.122m shares.
BOARD MEETINGS: Pak Modaraba, on Feb 17, Buxly Paints, Unit Trust Pakistan, UTP Income Fund, UTP Islamic Fund, ABAMCO Growth Fund, ABAMCO Composite Fund, and BSJS Balanced Fund, on Feb 18, Good luck Industries and Union Leasing, on Feb 21, Sitara Chemical, on Feb 22 and International General Insurance, on Feb 23.
