KARACHI, Aug 8: Stocks on Wednesday staged a smart recovery as a section of leading investors including financial institutions covered positions at the lower levels on the blue chip counters and put the market back on the rails amid light trading.

Bulk of the support, however, was again centered around the low-priced shares as investors were not inclined to take bigger risks owing to developing situation on the political front.

The KSE 100-share index recovered a good part of previous losses and quoted higher by 130.51 points as leading bank shares came in for active support under the lead of MCB, Askari Bank and Bank of Punjab.

The KSE 30-share index on the other hand posted a rise of 213.96 points or 1.3 per cent at 16,281.31 as leading industrial shares rose sharply on active demand.

Whether or not the snap rally could be sustained in the coming sessions was unclear but some leading floor brokers ruled out the possibility of major shake out, although US threats continue to prove one of the major destabilising factors for the market’s future outlook.

Habib Bank also failed to shrug off the negative impact of Monday’s episode and was further marked down by Rs4.10 at Rs319.05 on 6m shares.

Analysts said it could respond positively during the subsequent sessions on reports that its partial share float of about 54 million shares was heavily oversubscribed at Rs18 billion against the offer of Rs12.5 billion.

Trading activity was, however, relatively slow as the turnover figure fell below the 200m share level reflecting receding interest of investors in the share business because of political uncertainty.

Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of Unilever Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, up by Rs46 and Rs76, followed by Javed Omer, MCB, Adamjee Insurance, EFU Life, Dawood Hercules, Sanofi-Aventis, Pakistan Tobacco, National Refinery, Pakistan Refinery, Nestle Pakistan, JS Global, Arif Habib Ltd and JS & Co, which posted gains ranging from Rs7.50 to Rs30.

Bata Pakistan and Treet Corporation were leading among the losers, off Rs15 and Rs16.40 respectively. Other prominent losers included Pakistan Resource Company, Sapphire Textiles, Gatron Industries, KSB Pumps and Gillette Pakistan, which fell by Rs5.50 to Rs7.

Trading volume fell to 177m shares from the previous 237m shares but gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 205 to 115, with 28 shares holding on to the last levels.

Askari Bank topped the list of actives, up by Rs2 at Rs98.80 on 16m shares, followed by TRG Pakistan, steady by 20 paisa at Rs14 on 11m shares and Bosicor Pakistan, steady by 35 paisa at Rs20.45 on 10m shares.

JS Bank, up by 25 paisa at Rs18.05 on 9m shares, Arif Habib Securities, higher by Rs6.25 at Rs131.40 on 9m shares, Javed Omer, up by Rs10.65 at Rs223.75 on 5m shares, MCB, higher by Rs7.85 at Rs314.35 on 5m shares.

Other actives were led by Azgard Nine, up by Rs1.95 on 6m shares, Telecard, up by 55 paisa on 5m shares and WorldCall Telecom, firm by 25 paisa also on 5m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Habib Bank led the list of actives on the cleared list and was marked down by Rs4.10 at Rs319.05 on 6m shares, followed by MCB, higher by Rs6.75 at Rs315 on 4m shares and Lucky Cement, firm by 50 paisa at Rs125.20 on 3m shares.