June 23, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1427

KARACHI, June 22: Stocks on Thursday shrugged off the overnight sluggishness and recovered modestly from the previous lows but late- selling in some of the pivotals again pushed them lower to finish with clipped gains. The underlying sentiment remained uppishly inclined. The KSE index was up 68 points at 10,171.00.

The index owes its relative strength to active buying in the leading base shares, notably oil and banking shares as far as the broader market is concerned it still lacked normal buying interest even at the lower levels and that is perhaps why opinions about its future direction are divided.

Investors seem to be in two minds about the future market outlook at the fag-end of the current fiscal and are playing safe despite the fact some of the leading shares still ensure higher capital gains. But those who have the courage of conviction and believe in the financial viability of a share are picking it up, notably National Bank, MCB, Pakistan Petroleum and many others.

The KSE 100-share index posted a modest rise of 67.69 points at 10,171.00 as compared to 10,131.13 a day earlier, reflecting the strength of leading base shares, notably OGDC, National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfields and MCB.

The volatility of the index reflects that it is still endeavouring to find a direction as the two-way activity never allows it to follow its natural course guided by technical factors. It touched the session’s low and high at 10,079.09 and 10,264.24 respectively.“After having attained the crucial level of 10,000 points, the index is now in a consolidation phase,” analyst Zia Javaid says, adding “it is pretty difficult to predict its future direction at this stage and in the backdrop of heating up of the political scenario”.

But Ahsan Mehanti, a stock analyst, believes the market is preparing itself for a massive run-up after having passed through a consolidation phase as there is still a lot of manoeuvring space for both the bargain-hunters and the speculative forces.

The volume figure, however, failed to rise to a respectable average total of 300m shares in a bull market as some of the leading investors are still trapped in an unsold positions taken at the much higher rates before the last week’s massive reversal, brokers said.

The sustained rise of the blue chip shares to their last week’s pre-reaction levels may enable them to ride the bandwagon restoring respectability to the daily volume figure, they said, adding “the next week would be a rollover week for the matured June settlements and could be as eventful as the May contracts”.

Although losers again maintained a modest edge over the gainers, Shell Gas and Wyeth Pakistan, managed to finish higher by Rs12.90 and Rs86, followed by Adamjee Insurance, Pakistan Oilfields, Millat Tractors, Rafhan Maize, Treet Corporation, Grays of Cambridge, Mari Gas, Pakistan Petroleum, MCB and National Bank, which rose by Rs5 to Rs10.50.

Unilever Pakistan and Nestle Pakistan were among the leading MNCs, which fell by Rs50 and Rs57.00. Others to follow them were Pakistan Resources Co, Gatron, Sui Northern, Attock Petroleum, HinoPak, Gillette Pakistan, Pak-Suzuki Motors and Central Insurance, off Rs4 to Rs8.30.

Trading volume showed a modest rise at 255m shares as compared to 212m shares a day earlier but losers held a modest lead over the gainers at 152 to 146, with 35 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC was further marked up by Rs1.45 at Rs139.55 on 64m shares, followed by National Bank, sharply higher by Rs9.45 at Rs219.50 on 33m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, higher by Rs3.20 at Rs94.70 on 27m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, up by Rs8.10 at Rs213.40 on 20m shares, Lucky Cement, firm Rs3.55 at Rs110.50 on 12m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs5 at Rs347 on 11m shares and PTCL, easy 20 paisa at Rs42.15 on 10m shares.

Other actives were led by Bank of Punjab, up by Rs2.70 on 11m shares, BSJS Balanced Fund, firm by 20 paisa on 8m shares and Fauji Cement, steady by 10 paisa on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC again led the list of active on this counter and was quoted further higher by Rs1.35 at Rs139.95 on 17m shares on active follow-up support. National Bank followed it and ended with a fresh sharp rise of Rs9 at Rs220 and D.G. Khan Cement, up by Rs3.40 at Rs94.55 on 8m shares.

Other actives were led by Pakistan Petroleum, higher by Rs7 at Rs213.50 on 8m shares and Lucky Cement, up by Rs2.65 at Rs110.40 on 5m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Crescent Fibre again came in for active support and rose by Re1 at Rs13.50 on 0.110m shares, while others showed fractional either-way changes amid light business.