KARACHI, Nov 6: Stocks on Tuesday were back on the rails aided by strong short-covering at the lower levels in the leading oil shares after the denial of counter coup rumours signaling that the present setup is well in place to ensure continuity of the economic policies.
The KSE 100-share index, however, opened sharply lower, what the dealers called, an extension of overnight sell-off and at one stage it fell to session’s low of 13,075.5 points.
But late short-covering in most of low-priced base shares pushed it up to finish well above the day’s lows and close to highs at 13,426.11, up by 146.87 points or 1.1 per cent. Its junior partner, the KSE 30-share index also rose by 89.44 points at 16,143.88.
Active short-covering in the leading base shares, notably National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, OGDC, Attock Refinery and Engro Chemical was the chief supporting factor behind the index’s recovery.
“Political uncertainty is still there but what seems to have aided the recovery was the perception of continuity of existing financial and economic policies as the existing setup will remain in command,” said a leading analyst.
However, foreign investors stayed away and may not resume fresh purchases until sanity returns to political front, he added.
But some others said the rally appeared to be “inspired” as bulk of the support remained confined to most of the safe havens and investors were not inclined to go beyond them at least for the near-term.
“It is a very unusual situation, notably for a stock market, which is essentially is not cherished by the investors,” said another analyst, adding “next couple of sessions will show how the wind blows and dust settles down on the political front”.
Nestle Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan led the market advance, up by Rs80 and Rs97 but it did not signal the return of foreign buyers, followed by Fazal Textiles, Thal Jute, Pakistan Resource Co, Attock Refinery, Attock Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Petroleum, Indus Motors, Pak-Suzuki Motors, BOC Pakistan, Pakistan Engineering, PSO and Colgate Pakistan, which were quoted higher by Rs10 to Rs31.80.
Adamjee Insurance and Lakson Tobacco were leading among the losers, off by Rs19.55 and Rs27.20 respectively. Other notable losers included JS Global, JS & Co, New Jubilee Insurance, KSB Pumps, Dawood Hercules, Mitchell’s Fruits Shezan International and MCB, off by Rs8 to Rs18.65.
Trading volume rose further to 285m shares from the previous 248m shares as gainers forced a strong lead over the losers at 220 to 110, with 22 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC topped the list of actives, firm by 20 paisa at Rs115.90 on 38m shares, followed by Arif Habib Securities, up by Rs1.75 at Rs158.60 on 17m shares, National Bank, sharply higher by Rs8.65 at Rs236.70 on 14m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, up by Rs11.95 at Rs235.70 on 14m shares, Lucky Cement, firm by Rs3.95 at Rs120.80 on 12m shares, Attock Refinery, higher by Rs11.25 at Rs257.30 on 10m shares and Engro Chemical, up by Rs9.55 at Rs268.50 on 8m shares.
Other actives were led by TRG Pakistan, up by 85 paisa on 16m shares followed by WorldCall Telecom, steady by 20 paisa on 9m shares and NIB Bank, up by 85 paisa on 8m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC also topped the list of actives on the cleared list and was quoted higher by 30 paisa at Rs116.75 on 10m shares followed by National Bank, up by Rs7.05 at Rs236.10 on 7m shares and Lucky Cement, higher by Rs3.35 at Rs121.25 also on 7m shares.
Pakistan Petroleum followed them, higher by Rs12.05 at Rs253.10 on 7m shares and MCB, the chief victim of foreign GDR-linked selling, sharply lower by Rs17.70 on 6m shares.
DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Zeal Pakistan Cement was again actively traded, up by 30 paisa at Rs4.95 on 3.331m shares followed by Japan Power, higher by 55 paisa at Rs8.25 on 0.724m shares and Norrie Textiles, unchanged at Rs1.90 on 0.324m shares.
Unity Modaraba followed them, unchanged at 75 paisa on 0.318m shares, S.S. Oil, steady five paisa at Rs21.70 on 0.189m shares, while Asset Investment Bank rose by 95 paisa at Rs6.40 on 0.116m shares.
