December 01, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 9, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 30: Speculation about the GDS price of the OGDC dominated the trading on the stock market on Thursday as investors played on both sides of the fence awaiting official word on the issue due late in the evening.

And its share value on the bourse fluctuated between Rs125.05 and Rs129.95 on the lower and higher sides, respectively, amid conflicting analysts predictions about the price.

Stocks, however, staged a mild rally aided by modest short-covering in the banking and oil shares at the lower levels, notably by some leading speculative traders.

The KSE 100-share index recovered 24.18 points at 10.618.75 as compared to 10,594.57 a day earlier, while 30-share index rose by 91.48 points at 13,362.31, reflecting the relative strength of base shares.

Although some of the leading base shares, notably National Bank, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum and Faysal Bank rose, the weakness of OGDC and PTCL limited the gains in the index.

All eyes, however, remained focused on the OGDC’s Global Depository Shares (GDS) price ahead of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation meeting later in the evening. According to market sources, it could be around $2.5 and $2.75 per GDS, slightly above its ruling price of Rs127.20.

“But I don’t think there will be any significant change in its share value during the post-GDR share price fixation, leading analyst Ahsan Mehanti said, adding: “Massive share float of about 6m shares could well flood the market having negative impact on its share prices.”

There was, however, no trace of the overnight sell-off caused by broker exposure margins to 50 per cent from 30 per cent, which analysts said would raise the transaction costs but the mid-session witnessed a steep reversal of about 100 points amid conflicting reports about the GDS price of the OGDC on the lower side.

The confusion about the GDS price would continue to haunt investors until it is officially announced, which could have either-way bearing on the broader market.

While most of the liquid stocks showed fractional changes, Fateh Textiles and Colgate Pakistan, whose floating stock in the market is not freely available, rose by Rs17.50 and Rs15.50, respectively.

Other good gainers were led by Allied Bank, Clariant Pakistan, Gillette Pakistan, Clover Pakistan, EFU Life, Pakistan Cables and Dawood Hercules, which posted gains ranging from Rs4.50 to Rs13.75.

Pak-Suzuki Motors and Bhanero Textiles were leading among the losers, off Rs5 and Rs10.75, followed by Pakistan Refinery, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Shell Pakistan, Agriautos and Sapphire Fibre, off Rs2 to Rs4.50.

Callmate Telips remained in strong demand and rose by Rs4.40 at Rs92.60 on active follow-up support aided by reports of higher earnings. It has risen by Rs16 during the last couple of sessions.

Trading volume suffered a sharp setback at 122m shares from the previous 143m shares but gainers held a comfortable lead over the losers at 160 to 139, with 37 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC led the list of actives, off 95 paisa at Rs127.20 followed by National Bank, higher by Rs3.30 at Rs272.10 on 11m shares, PICIC, steady by 40 paisa at Rs74.65 on 8m shares, Bank of Punjab, easy 20 paisa at Rs104.20 on 6m shares, Faysal Bank, higher by Rs1.75 at Rs65.70 also on 6m shares, Callmate Telips, higher by Rs4.40 at Rs92.60 on 5m shares and PTCL, lower by 20 paisa at Rs46.60 on 4m shares.

Nishat Mills led the other actives, up Rs1.90 on 4m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs1.25 also on 4m shares, and Pakistan Petroleum, up Rs1.85 also on 4m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC led the list of actives, off Rs1.35 at Rs126.55 on 18m shares, followed by National Bank, higher by Rs4.10 at Rs274.10 on 11m shares, and Pakistan Petroleum, firm by Rs195 at Rs242.70 on 4m shares.

PICIC followed them and was quoted lower by 25 paisa at Rs74.75 on 3m shares and Bank of Punjab, easy 40 paisa at Rs105.10 also on 3m shares.

DEAFULTER COS: Active trading was witnessed on this counter as investors rolled positions from one sector to the other where chances of capital gains were higher. Norrie Textiles came in for active selling at the higher levels and fell by one rupee at Rs5 on 0.747m shares followed by Crescent Standard Bank, steady by five paisa at Rs5.40 on 0.655m shares.

Service Fabrics came in for modest buying and was marked up by 35 paisa at Rs2.15 on 0.358m shares, and Nazir Cotton, off 20 paisa at Rs3.30 on 0.242m shares.