January 16, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 06, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 15: Stocks on Tuesday showed a mixed trend as investors played on both sides of the fence amid alternate bouts of buying and selling triggered by Monday’s bomb blast close to city’s major industrial area, killing over a dozen persons. The KSE 100-share index was up by another 6.52 points at 14,055.27.

An interim bonus share at the rate of 159.74 per cent for the year ended Dec 31, by the board of directors of Jahangir Siddiqui & Co., was well-received in the market as was reflected by a sharp increase of Rs123 in its share value during the last two sessions.

Analysts said the market seems to have absorbed the major shock of the incident owing to its inherent strength, but investor worries over law and order situation are there as was reflected in its volatile movement.

However, active short-covering after each dip indicates that a leading section of investors appears to have decided to go along the existing background news awaiting the return of normalcy and good time in future, they said.

But foreign investors, according to official SCRA figures, are on their way out after unloading their long positions on the oil, bank and cement sectors, which is certainly a bad thing for the market, they added.

The opening was, however, not that nervous on the optimism carried over through the overnight’s strong performance and analyst predictions of higher earnings by some of the leading corporate sectors.

But fresh active short-covering in PTCL on some positive news and others pivotals allowed the KES 100-share index to finish with a modest fresh gain.

After hitting the session’s low and high at 14,030.70 and 14,117.31, it finally ended with a modest rise of 6.52 points at 14,055.27 as compared to previous 14,048.75. The free-float 30-share index on the other hand, fell by 15.86 points at 16,538.56. While bank shares, notably MCB and National Bank, remained under pressure, Arif Habib Securities, PTCL, Attock Refinery, Engro Chemical and some other leading base shares added to the overnight gains.

Top gainers were led by Unilever Pakistan and JS & Co, up by Rs50 and 63, followed by EFU General, AKD Securities, Arif Habib Ltd, JS Global, Pakistan Engineering, and EFU Life, which posted gains, ranging from Rs10.60 to 26.85.

Bata Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan were leading among the losers, off by Rs24 and 82. Other prominent losers included Dawood Hercules, Gillette Pakistan, Grays of Cambridge, Colgate of Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, which were marked down by Rs8 to 14.50.

Trading volume shrank to 228 million shares from the previous 256 million shares as losers held a comfortable lead over gainers at 181 to 153, with 34 shares holding on to the last levels.

Arif Habib Securities topped the list of actives, up by Rs2.40 at Rs171.45 on 19 million shares, followed by the PTCL unchanged at Rs41 also on 19 million shares, Pace Pakistan, higher by Rs1.20 at Rs33.15 on 17 million shares, Attock Refinery, higher by Rs2.05 at Rs280.35 on 14 million shares, BankIslami Pakistan, firm by 55 paisas at Rs19.65 on 11 million shares, TRG Pakistan, steady by 10 paisas at Rs13.45 on ten million shares and Javed Omer, up 70 paisas at Rs123.20 on seven million shares.

Other actives included NIB Bank, unchanged at Rs22.95 on 12 million shares, Nimir Chemicals, lower 50 paisas at Rs5.80 on eight million shares and Azgard Nine, up by Rs1.05 at Rs55.20 also on eight million shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Arif Habib Bank again led the list of actives on this counter, up by Rs1.55 at Rs32.75 on 16 million shares on reports of oversubscription of its issue, followed by PTCL, lower 40 paisas at Rs41.10 on three million shares and MCB, off by Rs2.30 at Rs382.50 on two million shares.

National Bank followed them, easy by Rs2.65 at Rs230.85 on two million shares and Engro Chemical, higher by Rs1.60 at Rs272 also on two million shares.DEFAULTER COs: An easy trend was witnessed on this counter as all the shares which came in for trading ended fractionally lower on profit-selling, leading among them being Norrie Textiles, easy by five paisas at Rs2.15 on 0.727 million shares.Other actives were led by Unity Modaraba, lower by five paisas at Rs1.55 on 0.568 million shares, Zeal Pak Cement, lower by the same amount at Rs4.35 on 0.500 million shares, and Japan Power, off 25 paisas at Rs6.50 on 0.275 million shares. S S Oil followed them, up by another Re1 at Rs18.05 on 265 million shares.