KARACHI, Aug 27: Heavy institutional buying in selected shares at the fag-end of the Tuesday’s session put the market back on the rails and analysts predict continuation of the current bull-run on the strength of coming corporate announcements. The index recovered the overnight loss of over 16 points at 1,925.71.

PSO, which spurted by Rs10.60 followed by conflicting rumours about its privatization and some other pivotals finishing close to their circuit breakers, with strong institutional support and led the market advance.

The KSE 100-share index, which remained under pressure during the major portion of the session recovered 16.06 points at 1.925.71 towards the close of the session reflected that bulls are pretty alert from the bear onslaught.

The snap rebound was apparently fuelled by reports of Hub-Power board meeting in London on Sept 4, and expectations of higher final dividend, brokers said.

Although the market perceptions about the final is not on the higher side for unspecified reasons, the higher figure being 30 per cent, making the total together with the interim of 40 per cent to 70 per cent or slightly above but some leading analysts predict of a pleasant surprise.

Technically speaking, the market is still in an overbought position but a tangible halt in the unloadings from the carryover business points to an extended bull-run, they added.

Some of the leading brokers predict that the KSE index could touch the high mark of 2,000 point levels in the sessions preceding the Hub-Power board meeting on strong speculative support and bargain-hunting.

The a sharp decline in the trading volume from 334m shares to 124m on Tuesday reflects investors entertaining higher price ideas are not inclined to part with them in anticipation of a sustained bull-run.

Other corporate fundamentals are also positive. Higher corporate announcements from some of the leading companies due during the next couple of weeks also continue to inspire fresh buying.

A higher final of 85 per cent plus 20 per cent bonus shares by Lakson Tobacco generated a fresh short-covering even at the inflated levels. It has already paid an interim of 20 per cent, the total comes of 125 per cent. It rose by another Rs5.35.

Bulk of the business remained confined to the current favourites as the broader market was still unsettled owing to rolling of positions from the second-liners to the blue chips ahead of dividend announcements.

Apart from Lakson Tobacco and PSO, other prominent gainers were led by ICP SEMF, Shafiq Textiles, Engro Chemical, Escort Bank, Lever Brothers, Javed Omer, Gillette Pakistan and Shell Pakistan, which posted gains ranging from Rs1.20 to Rs4.

Losers were led by Century Insurance, BOC Pakistan on selling ahead of its board meeting, Rafhan Maize, and Adamjee Insurance, off Rs1.05 to Rs2.05, the largest decline of Rs4.10 being in Packages on selling followed by reports of fall in interim sales.

Trading volume shrank further to 124m shares as losers maintained a modest edge over the gainers at 123 to 116, with 70 shares holding on to the last levels.

Hub-Power again led the list of most actives, up 20 paisa at Rs28.65 on 47m shares, PSO, higher by 60 paisa at Rs177.60 on 19m shares, Engro Chemical, up Rs1.20 at Rs64.35 on 12m shares, PTCL, firm by 15 paisa at Rs19.15 on 10m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, up 35 paisa at Rs11.35 on 7m shares and National Bank, higher 95 paisa at Rs23.60 on 6m shares.

Other actives were led by Adamjee Insurance, easy Rs2.05 on 4m shares, Dewan Salman, up 30 paisa on 2.315m shares, ICI Pakistan, up 35 paisa on 2.099m shares and ICP SEMF, higher by Rs1.90 on 2.070m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: PSO on the cleared list followed the lead of its ready counterpart and rose by Rs8.50 and 11.40 for both the forward September and the ruling August settlements at Rs188 and Rs189, respectively, on 1.163m and 2.877m shares.