April 7, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1427

KARACHI, April 6: Share values on the Karachi Stock Exchange on Thursday maintained an optimistic outlook and generally rose where changed under the lead of bank shares on market talk of higher interims.

But the weakness of leading oil base shares again kept the index in a violent mood, as it fell after at one stage hitting its career-best level of 11,751 points on profit-selling at the inflated levels.

The index closed the session with a modest rise of 19.06 points at 11,685.44, signalling that the weekend session is expected to witness the cross of the Rubicon despite profit-selling.

“Buy or sell shares of one’s choice at the opening and keep watch on price fluctuations and get away after the profit target is attained,” analysts said, adding: “No financial risk for a watchful eye what is in market parlance is nicknamed as intra-day trading.”

But some others said it was the weakness of oil giants for the third session in a row which did not allow the index to stay above its crucial level of 11,700 points.

For the second session in a row the broader market demonstrated that it could go alone sans leading trend-setters, notably OGDC, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum and some others on the strength of bank and cement shares.

National Bank, already ruling around peak level, rose early aided by reports that the share value of Saudi-based Bank Al-Jazira has risen to new peak levels after having fallen a couple of weeks earlier.

“National Bank has a stake of about six per cent or 0.875m shares in it, which it has to sell prior to opening of its bank in Saudi Arabia,” market sources said. Perception of fresh capital gains is boosting its share price on the local market.

But on the other hand, MCB and Bank of Punjab are attracting strong support on reports of higher interim earnings followed by undervalued shares, notably Pak PTA.

AKD Securities and Pakistan Refinery were leading among the gainers, up Rs12.85 and Rs15.15, respectively, followed by Gatron Industries, Pakistan Reinsurance Co, MCB, Premier Sugar, Unilever Pakistan, Gillette Pakistan, Jahnagir Siddiqui Capital Markets Fund and Grays of Cambridge, which posted gains ranging from Rs6.35 to Rs12.15.

Losers were led by Island Textiles and Shell Gas, off Rs8.25 and Rs11.50, respectively. Other prominent losers included EFU Life, Attock Cement, Shell Pakistan, EFU Life and Adamjee Insurance, off Rs4.95 to Rs7.90.

Traded volume was maintained on the higher side at 425m shares as compared to the previous 431m shares a day earlier, while gainers maintained a strong lead over losers at 203 to 156, with 51 shares holding on to the last levels.

Pak PTA again led the list of actives, up 25 paisa at Rs9.50 on 54m shares, followed by MCB, higher by Rs7 at Rs245 on 48m shares, Lucky Cement, firm by Rs1.70 at Rs125.65 on 40m shares, National Bank, lower 40 paisa at Rs290.50 after rising to Rs292.50, Nishat Mills, off 80 paisa at Rs141 on 18m shares, Bank of Punjab, steady by 40 paisa at Rs94.35 on 12m shares and PTCL, off 80 paisa at Rs66.15 also on 12m shares.

Other actives were led by Pakistan Cement, off 50 paisa on 19m shares, DG Khan Cement, easy 90 paisa on 12m shares and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, lower 25 paisa on 11m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank came in for active support in response to Bank Al-Jazira news and rose by Rs1.70 at Rs245.45 on 15m shares, followed by MCB, higher by Rs7 at Rs247 on 14m shares and Lucky Cement, up Rs2 at Rs127 on 12m shares. OGDC followed them, up 25 paisa at Rs156.25 on 10m shares, and DG Khan Cement, lower 30 paisa at Rs130.25 on 7m shares.

BOARD MEETINGS: Raja Insurance on April 8; Clariant Pakistan on April 13; Bata Pakistan and Attock Refinery 20; Dadex Eternit on 22; Pakistan Petroleum and Searle Pakistan on 27.

DEFAULTER COS: Active trading was witnessed on this counter as a section of investors picked up low-priced shares almost on all the counters.

Among the actives, Schon Modaraba, Crescent Modaraba and Crescent Standard Bank, were leading, up 80 paisa, five paisa and 20 paisa, respectively, at Rs1.90, Rs3.15 and Rs8.95 on 0.229m, 0.159m and 0.293 shares.

Dandot Cement was, however, an exception, which fell by 90 paisa at Rs12.60 on 0.103m shares.