KARACHI, July 23: The share market on Wednesday remained in a bullish frame of mind on strong institutional follow-up support in banking and oil shares aided by some positive developments on the corporate front, notably the launching of Rs20 billion equity market support fund possibly by the next week.

The KSE 100-share index recovered another 233 points or 2.17 per cent at 11,018.50.

Some analysts were, however, still skeptical about the future direction of the market as there was no tangible change in the negative external factors and feared that the fund-linked buying euphoria could fade any time leaving behind a fresh long list of casualties.

The KSE 100-share index breached through the barrier of 11,000 points signaling that it has survived the bear threat of four-digit figure and appears to be heading towards a respectable level close to its pre-election highs of well over 15,000 points, analysts said.

The index ended the session with a fresh smart gain of 233.69 points or 2.17 per cent at 11,018.50 as compared to 10.784.81 a day earlier, making the total recovery of six per cent during the last three sessions.

Its junior partner the 30-share index recovered 365.74 points or 3.02 per cent at 12,462.61 on Wednesday.

Fresh active buying in the index heavy-weights, notably MCB Bank, National Bank, Engro Chemical and Arif Habib Securities and some others were said to be behind the fresh increase in the index.

Turnover figure also showed a fresh increase indicating that some of the small investors may have decided to cover positions on selected counters at the current lows as it is pretty difficult to resist the temptation of quick capital gains.

“Bulk of the support again originated from the financial institutions and mutual funds,” analyst Ahsan Mahanti said. The stability will come after genuine investors opt for buying, he added.

Hasnain Asghar Ali, stock analyst, said the current buying euphoria appeared to be an investor welcome to the Rs20 billion equity market fund, which would start functioning possibly by the next week.

“What seems to have given credence to its positive operative role in the coming weeks is the fact that it will be managed by the NIT, considered to be one the most efficient financial entities in Pakistan”.

However, analyst Ashraf Zakaria thinks that small investors should await some more positive developments on the political front and the market’s current and future stance before having fresh stake even on the blue chip counters as all may not be well on the law and order front and the current rally may falter halfway.

JS & Co and Pakistan Oilfields