The post-Eid trading week on the Karachi Stock Exchange saw fresh widespread gains on almost all counters as investors were not inclined to take even a technical breather after riding the bandwagon.

Reports of higher badla rates did trigger stray selling on the overvalued counters but the general trend remained on the upside - thanks to strong financial support and the absence of leading bears, some of them have already joined the rank of bulls.

An interesting feature was that the market witnessed a major shift in the investor-buying strategy, most of whom rolled positions from the overvalued counters to the low-priced ones in apparent effort to realise quick capital gains.

Heavy buying in most of the textile shares partly on reports of a bumper cotton crop and partly to a major breakthrough on the export front seems to be major attractive bait behind the moping operations, brokers said.

Stocks, therefore, maintained their upward drive during the holiday-shortened week as perceptions of sustained bull-run did not allow investors to sit on the sidelines and remained active buyers despite weekend selling.

The KSE 100-share index confidently breached through the psychological barrier of 5,500 points, signalling that its upward march would continue in the coming sessions also on the strength of the privatization news.

It was finally quoted at 5,520.17, up 36.29 points as compared to previous 5,483.88 at the last weekend as leading base shares including the PTCL and the PSO finished with fresh sharp gains on active follow-up support triggered by reports of their proposed sell-off in due course.

The market sentiment in part was also influenced positively by the market talk of some fresh incentives for corporate sector by the prime minister in his address to the nation, brokers said.

Reopening after Eid holidays, the stocks maintained their winning streak on active follow-up support led by the leading institutional traders and finished with an extended gain amid a briskly-traded session.

"It was the privatization-driven rally as bulk of the support remained confined to the PTCL and the PSO amid strong rumours of the sell-off of date of the latter", said a leading analyst.

The government had already announced that it will sell 26 per cent controlling shares of the PTCL as a single entity to any prospective strategic buyers during the next six months and rumours about the PSO further intensified the current bull-run, he said.

The breach of the psychological barrier of 5,500 is significant in more than ones ways, brokers said on the one hand it laid a sound foundation for its upward march to the heretho elusive goal of 6,000 on the strength of proposed sell-off of two mega state-owned units and improving relations with India leading to normalcy in due course on the other hand.

"The current run-up is not overdone", brokers predict "no one would like to miss the rising market at this stage boosted by positive news from the Privatization Commission and bright prospects of more credit line from the US after the re-election of President Bush for a second term".

Technical corrections here and there notwithstanding, the near-term market outlook appears to be bullish and the index could take a breather after having breached the barrier of 5,800. But a section of leading analysts think the future direction of the market will largely depend on the intensity of the Opposition's anti-uniform movement and how the contenders of power tackle it without any violence.

They, therefore, are playing safe, keeping their positions evenly balanced. Cement sector again remained in strong demand under the lead of Lucky Cement which has embarked upon a massive expansion programme of Rs12 billion followed by those whose export figures are swelling each month.

Bank, fertilizers, and selected shares and low-priced shares on the other counters also came in for active support by way of capital gains as well as long term investment, brokers said.

Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of Wyeth, Pakistan Shell which rose by Rs77 and 22.40 followed by the Noon Sugar, Artistic Denim, Atlas Honda, National Foods and the EFU Life, which rose by Rs6.7 50 to 10.15.

The BOC Pakistan, the PSO, Zulfiqar Industries, Javed Omer and Arif Habib Securities added Rs4.10 to 6.35 to their previous gains. Losers were led by the Lakson Tobacco, Pakistan Cables, Unilever Pakistan, Ferozsons Lab, Clariant Pakistan, Grays of Cambridge, off Rs2 to 11 but the Siemens Pakistan fell by Rs25.00 on late selling.

FORWARD COUNTER: Barring the PTCL, the PPL and the OGDC, which managed to finish with an extended gain, other leading shares remained under pressure amid active bouts of buying and selling and finished higher. But the largest gain was noted in the PSO followed by rumours of its sell-off. The Fauji Fertiliser and the Engro Chemical were among the leading losers.