KARACHI, Oct 18: Stocks on Wednesday extended the overnight run-up as investors continued to build up long positions on the bank and oil counters under the lead of some foreign funds. Leading among them closed around their upper locks for the second session in a row.
In typical Pakistani trading conditions, strong presence of speculative buying ahead of a long weekend owing to Eid holidays is always deceptive and could open Pandora box and free for all in the post-Eid holiday session, some analysts fear.
The KSE 100-share index settled above the crucial level of 11,000 on renewed strong foreign portfolio buying in leading bank and oil shares combined with a good bit of local bargain hunting.
It finally finished with a fresh sharp rise of 232.79 points or 2.04 per cent, making the total during the last two sessions to 4.5 per cent at 11,399.83 as compared to 11,167.04 a day earlier. The KSE 30-share index also showed a fresh rise of 293.76 points at 13,954.88 points.
All the leading base shares having a massive weightage in the index, notably OGDC, National Bank, MCB and Pakistan Oilfields, again closed their upper limits of the circuit-breakers on heavy speculative buying triggered by the presence of foreign support.The pre-holiday session could attract a good bit of profit-selling at the inflated levels but indications are that the bull-run could be sustained in the post-Eid holiday trading as most of the basic fundamentals are bullish.
Most analysts believe the breach of the 11,000 level and that too during the pre-Eid holiday sessions, which generally attract selling, reflects that the bull-run could be carried to post-Eid holding trading sessions.
“I think the index is poised to better its previous all-time high record of 12,336 points established in March 2006, thanks to a judicious blend of both local and foreign buying,” predicts a leading analyst.
Never before in the trading history of the KSE, the holy month of Ramazan, known for a terrible sluggishness, has ever witnessed such a massive buying flurry in selected shares of banks and oil companies, pushing the index and the market capital to new year highs, he added.
Nestle Pakistan and Arif Habib Securities were leading among the gainers, up Rs14.95 and Rs22.80, respectively, followed by National Bank, Pakistan Resource Co, PSO, Mari Gas, OGDC, Dawood Hercules, after second interim dividend at the rate of 20 per cent, Murree Brewery, Zulfiqar Industries, Grays of Cambridge, Jahangir Capital Markets, Pakistan Petroleum, Attock Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfields, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.60 to Rs14.95, Pakistan Petroleum and Pakistan Oilfield leading among them.
Losers were led by HinoPak Motors and Wyeth Pakistan, off Rs7.55 and Rs40, respectively. They were followed by Bestway Cement, Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Engineering, Indus Motors and Gillette Pakistan, off Rs3 to Rs6.
Trading volume soared to 261m shares as gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 173 to 127, with 37 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC topped the list of actives, higher by Rs5.80 at Rs148.80 on 51m shares, followed by National Bank, up Rs6.55 at Rs286.45 on 32m shares, Bank Alfalah, firm by Rs1.55 at Rs49.30 on 22m shares, MCB, firm by Rs3.10 at Rs273.00 on 18m shares, Bank of Punjab, up Rs1.45 at Rs96.55 on 18m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs14.85 at Rs354.60 on 16m shares, and PTCL, up Rs1.80 at Rs44.90 on 9m shares.
Other actives were led by Faysal Bank, steady by 25 paisa on 10m shares, Crescent Commercial Bank, firm by 10 paisa on 7m shares and Hub-Power, up one rupee on 6m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Pakistan Petroleum came in for strong support and led the list of actives on the cleared list and was marked up by Rs12.30 at Rs259.10 on 15m shares, followed by OGDC, higher by Rs4.75 at Rs148.65 on 13m shares, and National Bank, up Rs6.40 at Rs286.90 on 8m shares.
Other actives included MCB, higher by Rs2.65 at Rs273.55 on 6m shares, and Bank Alfalah, higher by Rs1.75 at Rs49.30 on 5m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Trading activity on this counter was relatively slow as only two shares came in for actives bouts of alternate buying and selling. While Crescent Standard Modaraba rose by one rupee at Rs2.10 on 0.721m shares, Crescent Standard Bank, fell by 30 paisa at Rs4.80 on 0.876m shares.
DIVIDEND: Second interim by Dawood Hercules at the rate of 20 per cent, 15 per cent first interim already paid.
