January 15, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 05, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 14: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index on Monday again surged above the psychological barrier of 14,000 points as leading base shares came in for active short-covering at the lower levels and analyst said successive abortive rallies signal that the best is yet to come if all goes well on the political front. It ended at 14,048.75, up 133.71 points.

The fact that it rebounds after each dip reflects that bulls are not inclined to loose their grip on it and intend to take it along to new highs in the coming months.

That is perhaps why that after having given a highly volatile performance during the last week, it resumed trading on a higher note followed by active support on the blue chip counters and ended well above the barrier of 14,000 points.

PTCL, OGDC, Arif Habib Securities, Attock Refinery, National Bank, MCB, and D G Khan Cement were leading among those who initiated the rally, having about 50 per cent weightage in it.

In the prevailing political scenario, both leading investors and financial institutions hate to go beyond “some protected buying limits” for obvious reasons and play safe as is reflected by modest daily turnover, being the beneficiary of alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The perception shared by most of the leading stock analysts that it may be pretty difficult to keep it below the barrier for a longer period as there was nothing wrong with the basic market fundamentals.

Annual earning reports due during the next couple of weeks from the banking, oil and other blue chip counters are said to be fairly encouraging both in terms of capital gains and payout and only “fools could leave the arena at this stage,” they said.

However, negative political developments did take their toll in the form of profit-selling but as the market’s inherent strength remains intact rebound follows each dip, they added.

“Election uncertainties are there and added to them are bomb blasts and suicide attacks, but it goes to the strength of the market it is back on the rails after shedding extra load,” said a leading broker.

The absence of foreign investors in typical local conditions was, however, being felt by the leading market players as their lead on some of the counters in normal trading sessions significantly adds to the daily volumes, he added

Among the top gainers JS & Co and Siemens Pakistan were leading, up by Rs60 and 45 followed by Adamjee Insurance, Arif Habib Ltd, JS global, Attock Petroleum, Attock Refinery, Sanofi-Aventis, AKD Securities, EFU General , EFU Life and Rafhan Maize, which posted gains, ranging from Rs9.45 to 35.

Losers were led by Wyeth Pakistan and Shezan International, off by Rs109 and 20. Other prominent losers included Dawood Lawrence, Pakistan Engineering, Pak-Suzuki, Gillette Pakistan, Mitchell’s Farms, Grays of Cambridge, and Nestle Pakistan, which were quoted lower by Rs7.30 to 19.

Trading volume was maintained at the weekend level of 256 million shares as gainers led losers by a big margin at 210 to 127, with 40 shares holding on to the last levels.

JS Value Fund came in for active support and was quoted higher by one rupee at Rs16.10 on 23m shares, followed by PTCL, up Rs1.55 at Rs41 on 16 million shares, Arif Habib Securities, higher by Rs8.05 at Rs169.05 on 13m shares, D G Khan Cement, firm by Rs2 at Rs94 on 12m shares, OGDC, up by Rs1.85 at Rs121.20 on 10m shares, Attock Refinery, sharply higher by Rs13.25 at Rs278.25 also on 10m shares and BankIslami Pakistan, up one rupee at Rs19.10 on 9m shares.

Other actives were led by Nimir Chemicals, up 85 paisas at Rs6.30on 15m shares, NIB Bank, higher by 55 paisa at Rs22.95 also on 15m shares and Bosicor Pakistan, steady by 45 paisa at Rs20.65 on 10m shares.

FOTWARD COUNTER: Arif Habib Bank led the list of actives on the cleared list, up by Rs1.45 at Rs31.20 on 12m shares, followed by D G Khan Cement, loser 30 paisas at Rs94.20, on 3m shares, and OGDC, higher by Rs1.55 at Rs121.35 also on 3m shares.

MCB followed them, up Rs2.85 at Rs384.80 on 3m shares and Lucky Cement, firm by 30 paisas at Rs119.35 on 2m shares.

DEFAULTER COs: Norrie Textiles led the list of actives, up 15 paisa at Rs2.20 on 1.589m , followed by Zeal Pak Cement, easy five paisa at Rs4.40 on 0.829m, and Unity Modaraba, unchanged at Rs1.60 on 0.649m, and Pangrio Sugar 0.346m shares.

Pangrio Sugar followed them, up 50 paisa at Rs28.90 on 0.346m shares, Haram Textiles, up 65 paisa at Rs2.30 on 0.288m shares, Haydery Construction, steady by five paisa at Rs4.05 on 0.189m shares and S S Oils, higher by one rupee at Rs17.05 on 0.172m shares.