March 10, 2006	Friday	Safar 9, 1427

KARACHI, March 9: Stocks on Thursday were back on the rails and recovered in part massive previous losses as investors covered positions at the lower levels in the base shares after the Central Board of Revenue denied reports about taxing the share business incomes.

However, denial came a bit late when the damage was already done and investors were a bit reluctant to hold on their positions amid conflicting rumours, brokers said.

The KSE 100-share index rose by 209.98 points or about two per cent after a weak opening and finished around 10,803.99 points as compared to previous 10,594.01 points, adding Rs60bn to the market capital at Rs3,080.159bn.

But it has to go a long way to fully recover the last two sessions’ massive decline of 800 points in the developing scenario both on the political and the law and order front.

Although National Bank again remained under pressure as big ones continued to liquidate long positions, other leading base shares, notably OGDC, PTCL, MCB Bank, Bank of Punjab and D.G.Khan Cement propelled the index from its current lows.

However, all is not well with the index and the broader market. A massive either-way movement of 577 points in it during the session reflects the investor worries and future market trend, brokers said.

“Despite a snap recovery the market is still playing on a terribly weak wicket and no one could precisely tell at this stage how would it behave even on Friday,” they said.

“Investors should opt for undervalued shares until the market settles down and stay away from the highly overvalued ones,” says a leading analyst, fearing “a massive outstanding amount in stock futures on the forward counter could mean anything to the market until positions are fully squared”.

Trapped investors are unloading their stakes in the ready section to meet their clearing obligations on the forward counter and is a very tricky business, he said.

Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of Rafhan Maize and Siemens Pakistan, up by Rs39 and Rs55.50, followed by Arif Habib Securities, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co, MCB Bank, IGI Insurance, National Refinery, Pakistan Oilfields, Suzuki Motors, Sanofi-SKF and Shell Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs8.55 to Rs18.80.

Losers were led by Mustehkam Cement and Attock Petroleum fell by Rs9.90 and Rs11.10. Others fell fractionally barring Central Insurance, Pakistan Engineering, Sitara Chemical, National Foods and some others, off Rs4 to Rs6.65.

Trading volume rose to 312m shares from the previous 260m shares as gainers forced a strong lead over the losers at 233 to 99, with 24 shares holding on to the last levels.

The heavy weight, OGDC came in for active support and rose by Rs3.85 at Rs136.75 on 34m shares followed by National Bank, off Rs1.25 at Rs288.31m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs2.10 at Rs144.50 on 27m shares, PTCL, higher by Rs2.30 at Rs63.50 on 26m shares, MCB Bank, up by Rs8.70 at Rs254.70 on 20m shares, Bank of Punjab, higher by Rs5 at Rs105.95 on 12m shares.

Other actives were led by Lucky Cement, off Rs1.75 on 17m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, steady five paisa on 10m shares and KESC, higher by 80 paisa also on 10m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank remained under pressure on the cleared list also and fell by Rs4.30 at Rs290.20 on 16m shares followed by Pakistan Oilfields, sharply higher by Rs15.95 at Rs562.70 on 11m shares and OGDC, up by Rs2.80 at Rs137.25 also on 11m shares.

Other actives were led by Pakistan Petroleum, lower 30 paisa at Rs264.05 on 9m shares and D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs2.85 at Rs145.70 also on 9m shares. Turnover rose to 115m shares from the previous 83m shares as 27 shares rose, while 11 fell.

DEFAULTER COS: Steady conditions were also witnessed on this counter where Quice Foods came in for active support and rose by five paisa at Rs8 on 0.211m shares followed by Crescent-Standard Bank, up by 65 paisa at Rs9.50 on 0.170m shares and Dandot Cement, higher by 60 paisa at Rs11.40 on 0.105m shares.