June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

KARACHI, June 28: The KSE 100-share index on Thursday broke through the barrier of 13,700 points and settled well above it as the strength of leading base shares aided by foreign buying spilled over to other counters in a heavily traded session of well over 400m shares.

Another all-time high record was also established by the market capital, which swelled to over Rs4 trillion or about $70 billion as massively capitalised shares witnessed fresh price flare-ups.

But analysts said the market was now trading in an overbought territory and it may come in for a technical correction before resuming its march to its next target of 14,000 points.

The KSE 100-share index hit the session’s high at 13,767.39 but finished with 58.92 points gain at 13,727.95 as compared to 13,669.03 a day earlier. The free float 30-share index ended with a modest rise of 11.41 points at 17,002.75.

All the leading base shares, notably PTCL, National Bank, Askari Bank and some others came in for active support and were quoted higher amid active trading.

Opinions are now divided over its future direction. Some say it may take a breather having hit its next target of 14,000 points on the strength of increased foreign buying in the leading base shares.

But some others say that the corporate earnings are on the higher side and an attractive bait of handsome dividends may not allow investors to sit on the sidelines and most of them will be willing to take even calculated risks.

“The country appears to be heading towards a national reconciliation, of course, after a massive mess and that could give the needed push to the wavering bulls as well as institutional traders to stay firm on their ground,” some others said.

Plus signs again dominated the list under the lead of Unilever Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, up by Rs53 and Rs84.20, followed by Javed Omer, Fazal Textiles, Pakistan Tobacco, Pakistan Engineering, Atlas Battery, Excide Pakistan, Pakistan Resource Insurance, Adamjee Insurance, Pakistan Services, Hino Pakistan, Bata Pakistan, Treet Corporation, Siemens Pakistan and JS & Co, which posted gains ranging from Rs7.45 to Rs24.85.

Losers were led by PSO and Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills fell by Rs9.50 and Rs11.05 followed by Attock Petroleum, Sanofi-Aventis, Shezan International, Al-Ghazi Tractors and Pakistan Oilfields, off by Rs4 to Rs8.50.

Trading volume soared to 430m shares from the previous 366m shares a day earlier as gainers maintained a fair lead over the losers at 203 to 173, with 35 shares holding on to the last levels.

Nishat Mills topped the list of actives, up by Rs5.25 at Rs133.75 on 34m shares followed by PTCL, higher by RsRs2 at Rs56 on 31m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, firm by 45 paisa at Rs18.30 on 28m shares and Fauji Cement, up by 80 paisa at Rs20.20 on 27m shares.

Askari Bank, steady by 55 paisa at Rs104.95 on 19m shares, National Bank, up by Rs3 at Rs264.50 on 19m shares and TRG Pakistan, higher by Re1 at Rs15.40 on 23m shares.

Other actives were led by WorldCall Telecom, up by 95 paisa on 21m shares, Dewan Salman, lower 10 paisa on 14m shares and Telecard, firm by 30 paisa on 12m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Nishat Mills also led the list of actives on this counter, up by Rs6.29 at Rs135.39 on 6m shares followed by Askari Bank, firm by 31 paisa at Rs105.70 on 4m shares and Lucky Cement, lower 48 paisa at Rs137.62 also 4m shares.

National Bank followed them, higher by Rs3.85 at Rs267 on 3m shares and Nishat Mills, June contract, up by Rs5.50 on 3m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Active trading was again witnessed on this counter as investors played on both sides of the fence amid alternate bouts of buying and selling.

Nimir Chemical led the list of actives, up by 20 paisa at Rs4.20 on 1.815m shares followed by Japan Power, easy five paisa at Rs6 on 0.776m shares and Zeal-Pak Cement, lower 10 paisa at Rs5.55 on 0.551m shares.

United Modaraba, Mukhtar Textiles, Norrie Textiles, Taj Textiles and Quice Foods were also modestly traded and finished on divergent note.