01 March 2005	Tuesday	19 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, Feb 28: Stocks on Monday remained under pressure as attempted rallies on selected counters failed to absorb bulk of the selling originating from some leading institutional traders but larger decline was averted on the strength of bank and energy shares.

Both PSO and National Bank gave an outstanding performance followed by reports of higher earnings and evoked sympathetic buying on other counters, the net rise being Rs4.40 and Rs11.45, respectively.

The opening was, therefore, a bit weak, what the analysts called, an extension of the weekend sell-off, but soon bulls were back in the market and resumed covering operations, lifting the index higher by about 50 points but late selling pushed it down to finish around 8,260.06, off 25.34 points.

The talk of index level of 10,000 is still a dominating force behind the market's astounding performance, which during the last two months rose by 33 per cent, adding about 2,500 points to the KSE 100-share index and that may not be an elusive goal viewed in the backdrop of some basic fundamentals.

The early weakness was attributed to a fresh selling in OGDCL despite a 62 per cent growth in profits owing to higher oil prices and EPS is projected at around Rs8 per cent as a section of investors took profits at the highly inflated levels.

The downward drift gathered a fresh momentum after PTCL joined it, and as both have a formidable weightage in the index they allowed it to finish with an extended loss, brokers said. However, fresh heavy covering purchases in PSO, Bank of Punjab, MCB and some other leading shares neutralized the intensity of late selling. The market could shed another few points.

It is pretty difficult to push it lower from the current level, most leading analysts predict. "The talk of a massive reaction appears to have no relevance to the ground realities."

"No one could deny the fact that an attractive bait of higher corporate pay outs and bonus share is fading out each session as best of them are already out," they said. "The leftover bank shares, notably National Bank could spring pleasant surprises to many as daily price flare-up reflects."

The market is expected to resume its upward drive any time as most of the leading investors have readjusted their portfolios in the light of changing conditions and some basic corporate facts, brokers predict.

Although minus signs again dominated the list, some leading shares maintained their upward drive on active follow-up. PNSC, Sitara Chemical, PSO and AKD Securities, up by Rs8, Rs10.95, Rs11.45 and Rs28, respectively.

Other good gainers were led by Bata Pakistan, Atlas Honda, Muslim Insurance, and Dawood Lawrecen, which posted gains ranging from Rs5 to Rs6.10. Losers were led by Pakistan Services, Treet Corporation, Shezan International, Packages, Pakistan Refinery, Sapphire Textiles, Mari Gas, International Industries, National Refinery and Artistic Denim, off Rs5 to Rs15.

Trading volume suffered a sharp fall at 565.262m shares from the previous 728m shares as losers again held a strong lead over gainers at 218 to 150, with 44 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by OGDCL, off Rs1.30 at Rs117.55 on 75m shares followed by National Bank, sharply higher by Rs4.40 at Rs138.40 on 69m shares, PTCL, easy 10 paisa at Rs68.10 on 59m shares, Pak PTA, steady by five paisa at Rs13.40 on 54m shares and PSO, higher by Rs11.45 at Rs412.45 on 31m shares.

Other actives included Sui Northern Gas, off 85 paisa on 30m shares, MCB, lower 55 paisa on 19m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, up Rs3.85 also on 19m shares, and Hub-Power, up 15 paisa on 18m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PPL came in for active selling late in the session and fell by Rs2.50 at Rs255.50 on 38m shares followed by OGDCL, lower Rs1.90 at Rs120.35 on 25m shares, PTCL, easy 75 paisa at Rs69.35 on 20m shares, Dewan Salman, up 90 paisa on 10m shares and National Bank, up Rs4.55 at Rs142.10 also on 10m shares.

Kapco fell by another Rs2.95 at Rs56.30, while Pakistan Oilfields, PSO and some other finished with fresh good gains. Nishat Mills, which fell by Rs4.90, was leading among the losers.

DEFAULTER COS: Crescent-Standard Bank, led the list of actives, lower by 10 paisa at Rs15.50 on 0.451m shares, Unity Modaraba, up 15 paisa at Rs1.45 on 0.162m shares and Dandot Cement, easy 10 paisa at Rs10.50 on 0.104m shares.

DIVIDEND: Metropolitan Bank, bonus shares at the rate of 30 per cent; Pak Elektron, bonus shares interim at 15 per cent; OGDCL, second interim 15 per cent; Jahangir Siddiqui Capital Markets, interim cash 15 per cent; Ittehad Chemicals, interim bonus 20 per cent; and Ideal Spinning, right shares of 50 per cent.