KARACHI, July 1: The share market opened the new year account on a promising note on Friday as some of the leading shares in the oil and banking sectors came in for active short-covering but late weekend selling clipped a good part of the initial gains.

The benchmark early breached through the barrier of 12,500 at 12,553 and indications were that the maiden new year debt could be on the higher side but jobbers and short-dealers cut short the rally in the afternoon session.

The close was at around 12,484.17 points, off 11.86 points but well above the session’s low of 12,464.44 points, reflecting that normal trading week could be on the positive side.

“The light volume of about 35m shares indicates that the investors are still in the process of new year buying strategy,” a leading analyst Ahsan Mehanti said, but hoped that oversold market could attract any amount of buying when the trading resumes next week”.

He said the absence of foreign investors even on their safe havens was, however, greatly felt as a good number of local investors, notably their camp-followers also preferred to keep to the sidelines.

But another leading analyst Samar Iqbal said the next week could well prove crucial for the future direction of the market. “How Pakistan would react to the US refusal to vacate the Shamsi Air Base could have negative impact on the share business”.Another analyst Salman Naqvi said the modest fall of about 12 points in the benchmark indicates that there was nothing basically wrong with the underlying sentiment, which stayed positive as leading investors maintained a status quo owing to weekend considerations and hoped the opening by the next week could be on the higher side as pent up new account demand would manifest itself in a bigger way.Plus signs dominated the list under the lead of Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan, up Rs51.21 and 39.91, while prominent losers included Indus Dyeing and Al-Ghazi Tractors, off Rs9.73 and Rs6.48, respectively.

Traded volume fell to a recent low level of 35m shares from the 66m shares as gainers held a modest lead over the losers at 115 to 96, with 93 shares holding on to the last levels.

The active list was topped by J. S. & Co, up 39 paisa at 6.87 on 6m shares followed by Fatima Fertiliser, easy by six paisa at 16.584m shares, Lotte Pakistan, lower by 30 paisa at Rs13.53 on 3m shares, Azgard Nine, steady 21 paisa at Rs5.73 also on 3m shares, Bank of Punjab, firm by 16 paisa at Rs6 on 2m shares, Bank AlFalah, steady by six paisa at Rs9.63 on 1.270m shares, and TRG Pakistan, up 14 paisa at Rs2.70 on 1.254m shares.

They were followed by Askari Bank, steady by nine paisa at Rs10.97 on 1.242m shares, Engro Corp off Rs1.53 at Rs161.72 on 1.018m shares and Wateen Telecom, easy by seven paisa at 2.01 on 0.769m shares.

FUTURE CONTRACTS: The situation on this counter was relatively better as barring Engro Corporation, which again came in for active selling and ended lower by Rs1.63 at Rs163.32 on 0.31m shares but on the other hand Attock Refinery and Pakistan Oilfields recovered 59 and 67 paisa at Rs124.63 and Rs362.68 on 0.150 and 0.111m shares.

National Bank and Nishat Mills also rose by 39 and 33 paisa at Rs51.53 and Rs51.01, respectively, on 0.130m and 93,500 shares, respectively.

DEFAULTER COS: Shakarganj Foods led the list of actives, up 99 paisa at Rs3.99 on 32,500 shares followed by Japan Power, easy by seven paisa at 1.20 on 10,005 shares and Dadabhoy Cement, lower 11 paisa at 1.99 on 9,000 shares. Others were fractionally traded.