After earlier having risen to session’s high of 9,328, the benchmark suffered a fresh pruning of 60.22 points at 9,144.76 as some of the leading base shares came in for active profit-selling under the lead of oil giants.

The leading stocks, which came in for alternate bouts of buying and selling, were led by Siemens Pakistan, Unilever Pakistan, Indus Motors and Colgate Pakistan. But their on-balance close was on the higher side thanks to active short-covering at the dips.

‘It was an extended technical correction paving the way for a big rebound at the lower levels,’ said a leading analyst Ahsan Mehanti and added: ‘The presence of strong foreign buying on selected counters did not allow the underlying sentiment to show signs that the current run-up is over.’

The two-way activity witnessed for the second session in a row, selling at the rise and buying at the dips, reflects that investors are not deterred by the external negative news and meant business, he said.

The signs of recovery in the textile sector on reports of increase in duty on the imports of Chinese textiles by the EU and prospects of higher exports caused bullish signals in some of the leading shares notably, Nishat Mills one of the largest exporters of textiles, he added.

‘The index level above the 9,000 points shows that the market is poised for a big leap any time,’ another analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali predicts. The strong presence of foreign support is expected to play significant role at the end of the fading year.’

Leading gainers were led by Unilever Foods on reports that a US company has taken stake in it, up Rs34.50 followed by Lakson Tobacco, higher by Rs15.19.

Other prominent gainers included Indus Dyeing, Shahtaj Sugar, BOC Pakistan, Grays of Cambridge, Bata Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs5.22 to 15.

Losers were led by Unilever Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, off by Rs86.06 and 38.03 followed by Thal Industries, Attock Petroleum, Indus Motors, Dawood Hercules and Colgate Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs4.42 to 6.97.

Trading volume showed fresh fall at 161.934m shares from the previous 184m shares as losers held a strong lead over the gainers at 235 to 139, with 18 shares remaining pegged at the last levels.

Pak PTA led the list of actives, firm by eight paisa at Rs7.66 on 26m shares followed by PTCL, easy by 49 paisa at 17.83 on 15m shares, Nishat Mills, up Rs1.60 at 66.46 on 14m shares, OGDC, up Rs1.02 at 107.10 on 13m shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, lower 87 paisa at 25.17 on 10m shares, J.S.& Co, Rs1.29 at 29.22 on 9m shares, and National Bank, off Rs3.52 at 73.32 on 6m shares.

Arif Habib Securities followed them, lower by Rs1.74 at 47.03 on 6m shares, Bank of Punjab, firm by 18 paisa at Rs14.85 on 4m shares and Hub-Power, up 78 paisa at Rs30.51 on 4m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS:

Nishat Mills led the list of actives on the cleared list, up Rs1.71 at 66.69 on 2.656m shares on reports of higher exports to EU, followed by OGDC, higher by 61 paisa at 106.77 on 0.642m shares and MCB, lower 20 paisa at Rs217.37 on 0.231m shares.

PTCL followed them, easy by 45 paisa at Rs17.91 on 0.163m shares and National Bank, off Rs3.34 at Rs73.63 on 0.144m shares.