KARACHI, Feb 22: Active profit-selling in the overvalued oil shares on Wednesday weighed heavily against the underlying sentiment, halting temporarily the market’s upward drive, although strong buying in the bank shares limited the market decline.

Presence of strong support at the dips as well as at the higher levels reflects that the current run-up is not overdone and the market is expected to rebound after having met its technical demands.

The opening was higher but the mid-session witnessed a lot of selling in most of the overvalued shares, notably oil giants and in the process the KSE 100-share index managed to finish recovered after at one stage having fallen by 233 points.

Massive buying in National Bank amid hopes of addition of huge Al-Jazira profits to its credit seemed to have come to the rescue of index from the strong bear grip, allowing the index to finish with clipped loss of 92.90 points at 11,444.12.

“I don’t think the current run-up is overdone, the correction was long overdue but smart recovery signals bulls are not worried over the sell-off as was reflected by strong covering purchases at the dips,” predicts a leading broker.

A 25-per cent cash dividend and an identical amount of bonus shares by the United Bank for the last year gives a cue for the things to come from the banking sector, he added.

Presence of strong buying on those counters whose board meetings are due by the end of the current month reflects that the selective upward drive will continue irrespective of the external factors including corrections, which is the part of stock trading.

“The smooth rolling of positions in the forward contracts has already allayed fears of a rumoured big shakeout as was indicated by a mild correction in a highly overbought market,” some analysts said.

Bulk of the selling remained confined to the petroleum shares, being the current market trend-setters but they have the capacity and sound financial positions and corporate earnings to rebound any time thanks to presence of strong foreign buying, they added.

Nestle Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan were leading among the gainers, up Rs20 and Rs63.05, United Bank, MCB, Muslim Insurance, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co, Gillette Pakistan, Pakistan Services and National Bank, which posted gains ranging from Rs7.05 to Rs13.85.

Losers were led by Unilever Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, off Rs40 and Rs110 respectively. Other prominent losers included Arif Habib Securities, Thal, Shell Pakistan, PSO, Mari Gas, Pakistan Oilfields, Atlas Honda, Sitara Chemicals and Attock Petroleum, off Rs7 to Rs17.10.

Trading volume fell to 523m shares from the previous 693m shares as losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 241 to 132, with 38 shares holding on to the last levels.

National Bank topped the list of most actives, sharply higher by Rs13.85 at Rs291.45 on 48m shares followed by OGDC, off Rs5.50 at Rs148 on 45m shares, Sui Southern Gas, steady by 60 paisa at Rs38.55 on 41m shares, PTCL, lower by Re1 at Rs66.95 on 39m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs4.50 at Rs286.50 on 31m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, easy by Rs9.30 at Rs596 on 26m shares and MCB, higher by Rs7.15 at Rs256.10 on 26m shares.

Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, up by 60 paisa on 30m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, firm by 50 paisa on 26m shares and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, off 70 paisa on 18m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank also came in for strong support on the cleared list and rose by Rs13.90 at Rs291.90, virtually racing toward its next chart point of Rs300, followed by Sui Southern Gas, up by Rs1.44 at Rs39.25 on 10m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs4.90 at Rs286.50 on 9m shares.