KARACHI, Feb 16: The KSE 100-share index on Wednesday confidently breached through the second consecutive barrier of 7,500.00 in the last two sessions as investors continued to build-up long positions on selected counters under the lead of OGDC whose board will meet on Feb 25 and Askari Bank, which came out with higher bonus shares and cash dividend.

Single-session volume figure also soared to over one billion shares for the third time during KSE's trading history - the highest and second highest figures so far were 1.122bn and 1.029bn - at 1.128bn shares as both OGDC and PTCL were again massively traded on the higher side.

The huge share volume figure reflects that the market has pulled itself out from the state of uncertainty on the strength of all-round buying, leaving far behind the lean period when the single session volume has dropped to all-time low of 15.141m shares on Sept 3, 2001.

But a leading stock analyst Faisal Abbas predicts that it could be the end of the current buying euphoria as the market could pass through a technical correction of about 200 points beginning from late Thursday session.

The index finally finished around 7,508.80 points as compared to 7,403.00 a day earlier, up by 106 points, reflecting the strength of leading bank shares, PTCL, OGDC, PSO and some other energy and cement shares.

The KSE 100-share index has now left far behind the Mumbai Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share Sensex index by more than 800 points, which some months back was trailing behind it, reflecting the market conditions here. The Sensex index was quoted around 6,607.78 on Wednesday as compared to KSE's 7,508.80.

The gap between the two subcontinent indices is expected to widen further as the KSE is virtually galloping to its newly set target of 8,000 as the money is flowing in like any thing and for good reasons too, brokers said.

"There is a talk of an overbought market and fears of a big technical shakeout any day", some analysts said "but the market continues to defy all predictions despite being in highly overbought position".

Essentially, the current sustained run-up is not only dividend-driven but it is also aided by some other positive factors including massive buying by the financial institutions, which have a lot of idle funds to go for share business.

Two leading companies, Muslim Commercial Bank and Pakistan Oilfields announced their working results, which were in line with the analysts' predictions. The EPS of the former was around Rs7.53 and bonus shares at 10 per cent and right shares at 15 per cent.

On the other hand, Askari Bank gave a pleasant surprise to its shareholders as it enhanced the bonus shares to 20 per cent from the previous 10 per cent and came out with a maintained cash dividend of 10 per cent.

Energy and cement shares led the market advance followed by leading stocks on other counters, notably bank and textiles as working results of most of them are due during the next couple of sessions.

Among the top gainers, Treet Corporation, PPL, Rafhan Maize, after the announcement of dividend, and Wyeth Pakistan were leading, up by Rs12.20 to Rs62.50.

Losers were led by Valika Art Fabrics, Pakistan Refinery, Rafhan Best foods, AKD Securities, and Siemens Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs5 to Rs31, the largest fall being in Siemens Pakistan. Trading volume soared to 1.028bn shares but losers forced a modest lead over the losers at 185 to 173, with 46 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by OGDC, up Rs2.40 at Rs92.15 on 179m shares followed by PTCL, higher by Rs1.60 at Rs67.45 on 178m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, up by Rs2.85 at Rs71 on 87m shares, Sui Northern Gas, firm by Rs3.05 at Rs62.95 on 65m shares, and Lucky Cement, steady by Rs1.125 at Rs52.25 on 61m shares.

Other actives were led by National Bank, higher by Rs3.40 on 50m shares, PSO, higher by Rs3.05 on 48m shares, Fauji Cement, lower 10 paisa on 45m shares, MCB, up Rs1.55 on 39m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, up by Rs3.40 on 37m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PPL led the list of actives, sharply higher by Rs11.60 on 114m shares followed by PTCL, up by Rs1.60 at Rs67.50 on 47m shares and OGDC, firm by Rs1.55 at Rs92.80 on 30m shares.