March 29, 2006	Wednesday	Safar 28, 1427

KARACHI, March 28: Leading shares on Tuesday came in for active short-covering at the lower levels on the stock market but there were no signs of a decisive breakthrough in the current bear domain as leading investors were undecided about its future direction and stayed away.

The market is currently passing through a consolidation phase and once it meets its technical demands, notably on the forward counter, its current volatility could pave the way for a major rally, brokers said.

The KSE 100-share index recovered a good part of the overnight loss and was quoted higher by 47.33 points at 11,449.44, well below the day’s peak level of 11,481.26, reflecting the relative strength of OGDC, PTCL and National Bank.

Barring Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields, which attracted fresh tactical selling to resume their upward drive on covering purchases at the dips, cement shares maintained their upward drive under the lead of Lucky Cement and D.G. Khan Cement.

Fauji Cement came in for active support on report that pre-bid meeting was held on March 22 to sell its 52 per cent shares held by the Fauji Foundation. About a dozen prospective buyers including two foreign ones participated in the meeting. The management is said to be in the process of short listing the final bidders.

As the rollover of the March settlements is on and is stated to be pretty smooth in the backdrop of not a big outstanding positions amounting to Rs15.5 billion, the market is expected to be settled during the next couple of sessions and could give pleasant surprises, predicts a broker.

“Once the clear signal about the rollover of March positions reaches the market, it is expected to resume its upward drive on the strength of oil, cement and bank shares,” some analysts said.

Some others said presence of foreign portfolio buying on selected counters is well reflected in the large daily traded volume, but profit-selling is a part of a healthy market.

Moreover, higher dividend and bonus shares by the insurance sector could well be an aiding factor for the continuation of the current run-up, they said.

Leading gainers were led by EFU General Insurance and Arif Habib Securities, up by Rs9.55 and Rs22.05 followed by National Bank, Premier Sugar, Muslim Insurance, Mari Gas, International Industries, Gatron Industries and Bhanero Textiles, up by Rs4.50 to Rs9.25.

Prominent losers were led by Central Insurance and Pakistan Refinery, off Rs11.25 and Rs16.15 respectively. Others which also fell included Dawood Hercules, Clariant Pakistan, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Metropolitan Bank, EFU Life and Attock Petroleum, off Rs4 to Rs6.90.

Traded volume was main tained on the higher side at 409m shares as compared to previous 427m shares but losers held a modest lead over the gainers at 170 to 156, with 41 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC again topped the list, up by 40 paisa at Rs157.05 on 58m shares, Lucky Cement, higher by Rs4.80 at Rs124 on 49m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, firm by Rs1.90 at Rs152.90 on 40m shares, Fauji Cement, up by Rs1.20 at Rs26.30 on 36m shares, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, higher Re1 at Rs41 on 36m shares, PTCL, steady five paisa at Rs66.70 on 29m shares and National Bank, higher by Rs4.50 at Rs284.85 on 23m shares.

Other actives were led by Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs2 on 19m shares, Sui Southern Gas, lower 45 paisa on 12m shares and Pakistan Oilfields, easy Rs1.90 on 10m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC again led the list of actives on this counter, showing fractional rise of five paisa at Rs157.45 on 16m shares followed by Lucky Cement, higher by Rs4.27 at Rs123.87 on 11m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, lower 40 paisa at Rs275.60 on 9m shares.

They were followed by D.G. Khan Cement, off Rs2 at Rs153.25 on 7m shares and National Bank, higher by Rs4.64 at Rs285.24 on 6m shares. Some others also rose amid slow off-take.

DEFAULTER COS: Quice Foods led the list of actives on this counter, lower 10 paisa at Rs5.90 on 0.128m shares, while others were modestly traded.

S.S.Oil, Metropolitan Steel rose by Re1 each, while Glamour Textiles and Morafco Industries fell by Re1 to Rs1.20 on late selling.

DIVIDEND: Reliance Insurance, bonus shares at the rate of 32.50 per cent.