KARACHI, Sept 23: Stocks on Thursday roared back to their pre-reaction levels as investors covered positions in a highly oversold market at the attractively lower levels mostly on selected counters under the lead of PTCL.

As the trading resumed no one was inclined to miss the rising market from the recent lows, which ensures handsome capital gains. The KSE 100-share, which breached through the barrier of 4,900-point a day earlier, was quoted well above it followed by heavy buying in the leading base shares, notably OGDC on the strength of its profit of Rs23 billion and total dividend of 40 per cent, PTCL and Pakistan Petroleum.

It finally ended around 4,945.50, up 55.25 points as compared to 4,890.22 a day earlier, reflecting the strength of the leading base shares. "Essentially, it was a technical rally which was due a couple of weeks earlier but negative news in quick succession delayed it", analysts said adding "it may not have any relevance to higher corporate announcements pouring into the market in each session".

The underlying sentiment in part was also influenced favourable on market talk of a possible second meeting between the prime minister and the chiefs of the three bourses on the issue of Capital Value Tax (CVT) and its bearish impact on the share business for the last two months, they added.

News from the Hub-Power front were not that encouraging after the company's announcement that its three generators were under repair and only one was functioning generating 300mw out of its total capacity of 1,200mw.

But the institutional-led covering purchases ignored its negative fallout on the broader market as major portion of it had already been digested by investors during the last three sessions. The share of Hub-Power was also treading back to its pre-reaction levels, although future profit outlook appeared a bit bearish.

However, it is too early to speculate that the snap recovery could be extended beyond the weekend session as it will largely depend on the behaviour of the financial institutions.

Leading gainers were led by Berger Paints, EFU Life Insurance, International Industries, and Gatron Industries, which recovered Rs7.35 to Rs11.90 followed by Sapphire Fibre, Attock Refinery, National Refinery, PSO, Al-Ghazi Tractors and Dawood Hercules, up by Rs4 to Rs5.70.

Losers were led by Abbott Lab, Colgate Pakistan, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co and Bank, Pakistan Refinery, Bolan Casting on post-dividend selling, Pakistan Cables and Shell Pakistan, off Rs3 to Rs8. But largest decline of Rs49 was noted in Wyeth Pakistan without any notable transactions.

Trading volume rose further to 228m shares from the previous 158m shares as advancing shares forced a strong lead over the losing ones at 201 to 101, with 27 holding on to the last levels.

Bulk of the support remained confined to the PTCL, which staged a smart recovery, up by Rs1.75 at Rs40.20 on 59m shares followed by OGDC, higher by 75 paisa at Rs59.15 on 29m shares, Lucky Cement, up by Rs1.15 at Rs33.95 on 29m shares followed by reports of bonus shares of 7.5 per cent, Hub-Power, firm 50 paisa at Rs30.05 on 11m shares and D.G.Khan Cement, up by 75 paisa at Rs54.40 also on 11m shares.

Other actives were led by Bank of Punjab, up by 80 paisa on 9m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, higher Rs1.90 also on 9m shares, National Bank, up by 90 paisa on 8m shares, PSO, sharply higher by Rs4.65 also on 8m shares, and F.F.Bin Qasim, firm by 45 paisa on 8m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PPL topped the list of actives on this counter, up by Rs2.20 at Rs111.05 on 10m shares followed by PTCL, higher by Rs1.76 at Rs40.21 on 7m shares, OGDC rose by 85 paisa and 76 paisa for both the settlements at Rs59.20 and Rs59.25 respectively on 4m shares each. PSO was leading among the gainers, up by Rs4.40 at Rs243.40.