April 10, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

KARACHI, April 9: Stocks on Monday maintained their upward drive on active follow-up support on the cement counter but late selling in some of the leading base shares allowed them to close with clipped gains.

Rumours of government change despite official denials and financial risks linked to it worried most of the foreign investors who had been active during the last couple of sessions on selected counters and some of them shed their extra weight in some leading shares.

Leading among them, however, did not indulge in hasty or nervous selling but slowed down their daily activity awaiting some positive developments in an uncertain political future outlook, analyst said.

The market’s early run-up after the KSE 100-share index crossed the 11,700-level at 11,711.00, but could not sustain it on late-selling in some of the pivotals in banking and oil sectors. It finally ended the session with a fresh gain of 20.95 points at 11,676.59 as compared to 11,655.64 at the last weekend.

But on the other hand the KSE 30-share index showed a fractional fall of 3.36 points at 14,561.08 points on selling in some of the leading base shares.

Despite official denials that there would be no change in the present setup, investors both local and foreign participated in a low key as no one was inclined to take risk at this stage.

The market should have ran into deeper recession after the initial rise on the strength of leading cement shares, which continued to attract strong speculative support followed by reports of steep increase in exports and expectations of higher cash and bonus payouts.

“Essentially sensitive to adverse political developments, investors think twice before making fresh commitments,” analyst Ashraf Zakria said, adding “in the prevailing uncertain conditions foreign investors generally try to get out of the market”.

“Where there is a fire there is a smoke,” another analyst said, adding “the government must take corrective steps, which it is capable of taking to end the impasse on some of the issues”.But the general trade and industry view on the prevailing political situation amid flood of conflicting rumours is not that positive and all sectors of the economy want an immediate end to it.

Leading gainers were led by Unilever Pakistan and IGI Insurance, up by Rs50 and Rs21.15, followed by Central Insurance, Fazal Textiles, Thal Jute, Mirpurkhas Sugar, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Abbott Lab, PSO, National Foods, Zulfiqar Industries and Pakistan Refinery, which posted gains ranging from Rs5.20 to Rs9.45.

Prominent losers included Siemens Pakistan and Nestle Pakistan, off Rs35 and Rs25. Indus Dyeing, Gillette Pakistan, Fateh Textiles, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Pakistan Engineering and Bata Pakistan followed them, off Rs3 to Rs8.05.

Trading volume fell to 269m shares from the previous 294m shares but gainers held a comfortable lead over the losers at 196 to 116, with 41 shares holding on to the last levels.

Lucky Cement topped the list of actives, higher by Rs2.30 at Rs93.40 on 40m shares followed by Fauji Cement, steady by 70 paisa at Rs19.95 on 35m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, firm by 35 paisa at Rs94.60 on 26m shares, Maple Leaf Cement, up by 55 paisa at Rs21.60 on 13m shares, National Bank, lower 65 paisa at Rs243.50 on 10m shares and Bank Alfalah, lower 20 paisa at Rs47 on 7m shares.

Other actives were led by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, higher by 20 paisa on 15m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by Rs1.40 on 10m shares, Bank of Khyber, higher by Re1 on 7m shares and Askari Bank, up by 55 paisa also on 7m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Lucky Cement also topped the list of actives on the cleared list and was quoted further higher by Rs2.55 at Rs93.90 on 14m shares followed by D.G. Khan Cement, steady by five paisa at Rs95.05 on 8m shares and Maple Leaf Cement, firm by 45 paisa at Rs21.70 on 5m shares.

They were followed by National Bank, unchanged at Rs245 on 4m shares and Bank of Punjab, higher by Re1 at Rs94.40 on 3m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Zeal Pak Cement came in for active buying and led the list of actives, steady by 10 paisa at Rs5.60 on 2.313m shares followed by Norrie Textiles, higher by 20 paisa at Rs3.40 on 0.970m shares and Nimir Chemicals, up by 15 paisa at Rs2.65 on 0.154m shares.

Asset Investment Bank also came in for fresh buying and rose by 55 paisa at Rs4.05 on 0.118m shares, while others were modestly traded but on the higher side.

BOARD MEETINGS: NIB Bank and Latif Jute on April 12, Gillette Pakistan and Pak-Leasing Co on April 13, Arif Habib Ltd, Faysal Balanced Fund, Faysal Income & Growth Fund on April 14, Kota Addu Power on April 18 and Siemens Pakistan on April 26.