KARACHI, July 26: The KSE 100-share index on Thursday maintained its upward drive and added another 88 points but finished well blow the session’s peak level on late selling triggered by rumours about changes in the government set up and the negative fallout of the rollover of positions.

It early rose to day’s best level of 13,813.84, up by 219 points from the previous close as the mid-session witnessed that a flurry of buystops on the leading base shares could push it to any highs. But it finished with clipped gain of 88.17 at 13,683.37 points on late-selling. The free-float 30-share index also rose by 139.14 points at 16,538.85.

The dividend news by International Industries and Al-Ghazi Tractors were on the higher side of the analyst perceptions and aided the underlying sentiment.

However, the session’s highlight was provided by fresh heavy buying in the National Bank on positive news linked to its GDR issue where other leading base shares also performed well amid an expanded activity.

News that the consultants had been appointed to go through the process of GDR issue of National Bank evoked strong speculative buying in its share, pushing it to session’s high of Rs259.50, up by Rs12.30.

It will be the fourth GDR issue to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, the other three being OGDC, MCB and United Bank, which doing well for quite sometime.

But the broader market remained under pressure where prices generally fell as investors were not inclined to go beyond the safe havens for obvious reasons, notably political uncertainty and the army operation in the tribal areas, floor brokers said.

Oil, bank and cement shares led the resistance to larger decline and kept the buying interest at a high pitch on selected counters but foreign investors remained conspicuous by their absence.“I don’t foresee any major breakthrough in the future performance of the index as investors are not inclined to go beyond a dozen risk-free shares having a large weightage in the index,” said a leading analyst, adding “until broader market joins the race it will continue creeping to its all-time high level of 14,000 points”.

But some others predict the market has other positive reasons to rely on notably higher corporate earnings and dividends which will continue to inspire fresh buying.

Siemens Pakistan was leading among the gainers, which posted a fresh gain of Rs86 followed by Arif Habib Ltd, up by Rs13.65 followed by Nestle Pakistan, Pakistan Tobacco, Atlas Honda, Cherat Papers, ICI Pakistan, New Jubilee Insurance, JS Global, JS & Co, National Bank and National Refinery, which posted gains from Rs5 to Rs13.90.

Unilever Pakistan and Treet Corporation on the other hand fell by Rs30 and Rs17.35 respectively. Other prominent losers included Pakistan Petroleum, Mari Gas, International Industries, despite higher cash dividend and bonus shares, Exide Pakistan, Gillette Pakistan, Javed Omer, Pakistan Cables and EFU General, which fell by Rs5.15 to Rs11.95.

Trading volume rose to 341m shares from the previous 260m shares but losers again held a fair lead over the gainers at 180 to 145 with 32 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC topped the list of actives, up by 55 paisa at Rs122.15 on 33m shares followed by National Bank, sharply higher by Rs12.30 at Rs259.50 on 24m shares and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, steady by 65 paisa at Rs45.60 on 22m shares.

Lucky Cement, up by Rs1.80 at Rs128 on 21m shares, Bank of Punjab, higher by Rs3.45 at Rs104.80 on 15m shares, PTCL, up by 70 paisa at Rs58.55 on 14m shares and Bank Alfalah, steady by 40 paisa at Rs55.40 on 12m shares.

Other actives were led by Arif Habib Securities, off Rs4.55 on 12m shares, Fauji Cement, lower by 50 paisa at Rs21 on 10m shares and Saudi Pak Bank, easy by 15 paisa on 9m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: National Bank also came in for strong support on the cleared list and was marked up by Rs11.02 at Rs261.50 on 7m shares its July contract on the other hand posted a gain of Rs12.30 at Rs259.80 on 4m shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, firm by 50 paisa at Rs45.80 on 5m shares and Lucky Cement, higher by Rs2.85 at Rs129.65 also on 5m shares.