KARACHI, July 4: Stocks on Wednesday recovered from the overnight lows on active short-covering aided partly by higher dividend at the rate of Rs.6.20 per unit by the management of National Investment Trust(NIT) and partly to reports of imposition of curfew and relative calm on the Lal Masjid front.

The market sentiment was also boosted on reports that some of the students have started leaving the seminary to avail of the army deadline leading to peaceful exit of the others.

The KSE 100-share index recovered a good part of the overnight snap reaction and was quoted higher by 59.18 points at 13,869.03 as compared to 13,809.85 a day earlier. The KSE 30-share index also rose by 85.73 points at 17,066.50.

The final payout of Rs6.20 per cent by the NIT is 40 paisa higher as compared to the previous year’s Rs5.80 but analysts said it is slightly below the market perceptions and could have negative fallout on the shares of banks, which are one of the largest stakeholders in it.

The ruling prices of the NIT units are at Rs63.45 and 61.25 for both sale and repurchase, respectively, against their face value of Rs10.

However, in the backdrop of Tuesday’s violence in Islamabad over the standoff on the Lal Masjid issue, the market behaved well after the army takeover of the area.

“The army has given the deadline to the students of the seminary to vacate the premises and indications are that it may be extended further to give more time to them for compliance,” said a leading analyst and hoped, ”Compliance will be around as students may not like to defy army orders.”

However, much of the buying interest again remained confined to second liners and overvalued ones were neglected, indicating that investors were not inclined to take risks at this stage and played safe.

“Most of the undervalued shares have steadily risen during the last couple of weeks as they ensure both the capital gains and the security of the capital,” said a leading broker.

Most of the blue chips, finished with sharp gains under the lead of Clariant Pakistan, Javed Omer, Thal Jute, National Refinery, Shell Gas, Pakistan Oilfields, Sanofi-Aventis, Shell Pakistan and JS & Co, which posted gains ranging from Rs10.70 to 28.50. Many others also rose sharply higher amid active trading.

Wyeth Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan led the list of losers, sharply lower by Rs104.90 and 50 followed by Pakistan Services, Nestle Pakistan, Pak-Suzuki Motors, Pakistan Engineering, Mirpurkhas Sugar and Colegate Pakistan, off by Rs6 to 15.

Trading activity suffered fall at 360m shares as compared to 412m shares a day earlier but gainers forced a strong lead over the losers at 240 to 131, with 34 shares holding on to the last levels.

TRG Pakistan again topped the list of actives on market talk of bonus shares, steady by 40 paisa at Rs18.10 on 44m shares followed by Bosicor Pakistan, which has assumed the role of an active shares for the last couple of weeks on reports of expansion in the existing facilities, up one rupee at Rs20.20 on 22m shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, steady by five paisa at Rs39.45 on 18m shares, D.G.Khan Cement, higher by Rs2.25 at Rs118.25 on 17m shares, Bank AlFalah, higher by Rs1.55 at Rs61.45 on 13m shares, and Pakistan Oilfields, up by 13.05 at Rs329.10 on 8m shares.

Other actives were led by Fauji Cement, up by 90 paisa on 22m shares, Nimir Chemicals, up one rupee on 10m shares, Arif Habib Securities lower five paisa also on 10m shares and Azgard Nine, up one rupee on 10m shares.

DEFULATER COS: Nimir Chemical topped the list of actives on this counter, lower by 10 paisa at Rs5.50 on 2.526m shares followed by Japan Power, higher by 25 paisa at Rs7.75 on 2.168m shares and Zeal Pak Cement, steady by 15 paisa at Rs5.50 on 0.270m shares.