February 22, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 23, 1427

KARACHI, Feb 21: The KSE 100-share index on Tuesday briefly crossed the high mark of 11,600 on early strong index-related buying in the leading energy shares but failed to sustain it on late selling on some of the overvalued counters.

The broader market, however, remained under pressure what brokers called spillover of selling from the futures market owing to rolling of positions to new comer March settlements.

Earlier, the index touched the session’s high at 11,648.67, but finally ended reacted around 11,537.02, up by 95.17 points. Late selling in PTCL, PSO, MCB, Bank of Punjab and some other leading base shares pushed it down from the day’s peak level.

“Profit-selling could gain in stature but strong foreign and speculative buying in the leading oil shares, notably OGDC, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields may not allow to show signs of weakness at this stage,” a leading analyst Faisal Abbas said.

Essentially, it was the strength of the oil giants, which did not allow the index to fall back to its technically viable level, he said, adding “the negative fallout of the huge outstanding position on the forward counter is still to be felt”.

But stock analyst Zia Javed says some of the best final and interim corporate announcements are still to come, which could give a tremendous boost to the underlying sentiment during the next couple of sessions.

Board meetings of some of the leading companies, notably OGDC and Askari Commercial Bank are due during the next two days and indications are that their managements could come out with some pleasant surprises as did their counterparts last week, he adds.

But some leading brokers said the weakness of the broader market during the last two sessions reflects a technical shakeout is now overdue but it is pretty difficult to predict about its intensity.

Some of the overvalued shares both in the banking and cement sector are already in the process of consolidation phase, while others, notably in the oil sector may follow soon.

“But I don’t think a massive shakeout at this stage as positive market fundamentals points to a bull market, technical corrections here and there notwithstanding”, another stock analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali predicts.

Leading gainers were led by Pakistan Oilfields and Siemens Pakistan, up Rs28.80 and Rs60.05. Other prominent gainers were led by Jahangir Siddiqui Capital Markets, United Bank, IGI, Muslim Insurance after higher cash dividend plus bonus shares, Artistic Denim, Pakistan Cables, Shezan International, Central Insurance, and Atlas Honda, which posted gains ranging from Rs6.70 to Rs11.

Losses on the other hand were mostly fractional barring Attock Petroleum and Gillette Pakistan, off Rs8 and Rs14.75 respectively followed by Shell Pakistan, Lakson Tobacco, Arif Habib Securities, National Bank, Adamjee Insurance, Ferozsons Lab and Jahangir Siddiqui & Co, off Rs4.50 to Rs7.

Trading volume soared to 693m shares owing to a massive activity in OGDC ahead of its board meeting on Thursday but losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 200 to 170, with 39 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC topped the list of most actives, up by Rs1.95 at Rs153.50 on 147m shares followed by D.G.Khan Cement, off Rs3.20 at Rs141 on 51m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, higher by Rs13.60 at Rs291 on 50m shares, PTCL, lower five paisa at Rs67.95 after hitting the day’s best bid at Rs68.90 on 40m shares, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, easy 15 paisa at Rs42.50 on 39m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs28.80 at Rs605.30 and MCB, off Rs2.05 at Rs248.95 on 26m shares.

PSO, led the list of other actives, lower by Rs1.30 at Rs451 on 24m shares, followed by Lucky Cement, up by Rs2.55 at Rs109.30 on 36m shares and Bank of Punjab, off Rs1.35 at Rs123.05 on 30m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC also led the list of actives on this counter, up by Rs1.70 at Rs154 on 31m shares, followed by Pakistan Petroleum, higher by Rs13.70 at Rs291.40 on 18m shares and D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs2.65 at Rs142 on 11m shares.

Other actives were led by Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs28.85 at Rs605.85 on 8 million shares and OGDC’s March contract, up by Rs1.35 at Rs156.40 on 9 million shares. Some others also posted sharp gains.

DEFAULTER COS: Mixed trend was seen on this counter as investors played on both sides of the fence but gains and losses were mostly fractional. Service Industries and Dandot Cement were actively traded, off 40 and 35 paisa at Rs3.90 and Rs12.70 on 0.199m and 0.172m shares respectively.

DIVIDEND: Muslim Insurance, cash 70 per cent, bonus shares 30 per cent, Security Leasing Corporation, bonus shares at the rate of 33.33 per cent.