The KSE 100-share index last week maintained its record of breaching through successive psychological barriers, starting from 5,500, and stood confidently at its new career-best level of well above 5,800 , signalling it could take technical breather after having hit its new target of 6,000 possibly before the year is out.

Its meteoric rise is billed both real and speculative by the leading analysts but one thing is clear that those pushing it higher must have some genuine reasons behind their mopping operations. Whether share values tally to the index rise appears to be beyond the scope of current debate.

Leading stocks, not the liquid ones, therefore, continued to establish new all-time high records in quick succession as investors were not inclined to take even a technical breather in a highly overbought market and lurking danger of a major shakeout any time from the badla counter.

The KSE 100-share index breached through the psychological barrier of 5,800 and stood well above it thanks to active follow-up support finishing finally around 5,842.07, up 141.77 points. The market capital soared by Rs35 billion to Rs1,620 from Rs1,585 billion a week earlier.

Apart from the prime minister's successful China visit and signing of more than half a dozen fresh deals to boost two-way trade and set joint ventures, reports of higher corporate earnings and good dividend did not allow investors to sit on the sidelines and most of them continued to build-up long positions, on cement, fertilizer, energy, banking and textile sectors.

Price flare-up even at the already overvalued rates reflects the current phase of cornering selected stocks will continue in the coming weeks also aided by the year-end portfolio adjustments.

"Every one is eyeing the index level of 6,000 before the year is out and is not inclined to lay guard until the target is hit," says an analyst but "what next leads to a big question mark".

"The month of December will go into KSE history books as the month during which a number of psychological barriers were broken in quick succession", some others said "the index level of 6,000 now looks not that ambitious".

There is also a loud whispering in the rings that "America" is one of the most inspiring factors behind the current price flare-up and no one is inclined to miss it and for good reasons too.

President Musharraf's meeting with his US counterpart two weeks earlier and his full support to him during the next four years is being encashed by the punters, most brokers believe.

The rally was terribly broad-based and covered all the sectors under the lead of textile shares and blue chips on the other counters amid another briskly traded session.

The market's bullish mood was well-reflected in the KSE 100-share index, which not only wiped out the weekend losses but finished with a fresh smart gain after having breached through the barrier of 5,800 points as leading base shares finished fully recovered under the lead of PTCL and some others.

There was no trace of the weekend sell-off as bulls drove bears out of the market after lifting bulk of the floating stocks both at the dips and the rise and they might have good reasons to remain on the winning side. But there was no immediate stimulating factor both on the corporate and political fronts to which the resumption of the market run-up could be attributed, brokers said.

"I don't think bulls could loosen their tight grip on the rising market before hitting the new target of 6,000 after due consolidations", predicts a leading stock broker "but the question whether or not the rise is genuine or speculative is anybody's guess".

However, one thing is clear the bulk of the support is confined to some leading index shares as well as those whose floating stock is pretty difficult to find but they have a substantial weightage in the index and that speaks of the meteoric and sustained rise of the index, some others said.

"The current market run-up is not speculative," some others claim "it has behind a certain perception based on the basic market fundamentals and perhaps a peep through the future".

There could be technical corrections here and there in the backdrop of a massive rise in badla investment (Rs30.7 billion} and volume, which could take away 100 or odd points but it would be followed by strong covering purchases at the lower levels, they said.

Prominent gainers were led by Treet Corporation, Artistic Denim, Bhanero Textiles, Island Textiles, and Wyeth Pakistan. Other good gainers included Pakistan Engineering, Aventis, Crescent Steel, Pakistan Refinery, Zulfiqar Industries, National Refinery and Pakistan Cables.

They were followed by Javed Omer, Nestle MilkPak, AKD Securities, Rafhan Maize, Bhanero Textiles, Interantional Industries, but the largest rise of Rs80 in addition to earlier gain was noted in Wyeth Pakistan. Losers included IGI Insurance, Quetta Textiles, EFU General Insurance, Shell Pakistan, Sitara Chemicals and Berger Pakistan Siemens Pakistan several others.

FORWARD COUNTER: Bullish trend was more pronounced on the cleared list where Nishat Mills and PPL hit new highs on strong speculative support. Both rose by Rs4 to Rs6.05, while Engro Chemical and Fauji Fertilizer, FF Bin Qasim, also raced toward their peak levels.