KARACHI, Dec 12: Stocks on Thursday finished with an extended gain as follow-up support persisted on all the blue chip counters aided by reports of higher corporate earnings for the year ending Dec 31.

However, buying support remained largely selective as investors were not inclined to go beyond the relative safe havens apparently weighed down by the presence of some negative psychological factors on the political front.

Heavy foreign buying in Hub-Power, however, evoked a lot of fresh short-covering in other pivotals, pushing the KSE 100-share index further higher by 26.71 points at 2,429.02 amid a briskly traded session.

Hub-Power remained in strong demand throughout the session both in the ready and the forward counters followed by reports that the Standard & Poor’s rating agency has revised upward Pakistan’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating.

Other leading MNCs also came in for active support under the lead of Nestle MilkPak and Unilever Pakistan on the perception that foreign fund buying could gain in stature in the coming sessions.

But analysts now think the index may not touch the high mark of 2,500 during the next fortnight as earlier speculated and may fluctuate between 2,430 and 2,450 level as beyond this there are heavy financial risks.

Some others, however, predict that year-end moping operations by both the institutional traders and leading brokerage houses could spring pleasant surprise, although the index’s meteoric rise to the level of 2,500 may not be sustained in the final analysis at least for the near-term.

“The future outlook appears positive despite the presence of a number of political depressants,” predicts a leading broker, adding “bulls are not inclined to lay their guards at this stage perhaps because of technical reasons.”

However, one thing appears strange as most of the investors are not inclined to go beyond the safe havens. Perhaps they are unsure about market trend or the viability of the current run-up beyond the index level of 2,000, which need heavy cash amounts to sustain it.

Apart from Hub-Power, Adamjee Insurance, Fauji Fertilizer, Engro Chemical, and some other blue chips posted fresh good gains amid active trading.

But auto shares remained under pressure followed by official hints to allow permission for the import of reconditioned cars. Both Indus Motors and Pak-Suzuki Motors, which had risen sharply during the last couple of weeks fell by Rs1.40 and Rs1.30 and so did HinoPak Motors, off Rs3.

Largest fresh rise was noted in Universal Leather, which rose further by Rs13.05 on reports that it has indicated to buyback shares at the rate of Rs125 per share of Rs10.

Other good gainers were led by EFU General, EFU Life, Gadoon Textiles, Premier Sugar, Berger Paints, BOC Pakistan, Adamjee Insurance, Asia Board and Nestle MilkPak, which rose by Rs2.15 to Rs5 followed by Unilever Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan, higher by Rs13.05 and Rs10, respectively.

Losers were led by Treet Corporation, Rafhan Maize Products, Pakistan Refinery, Grays of Cambridge and Pakistan Reinsurance Co, off Rs5 to Rs9.90. Sarhad Cigarette, Attock Refinery and Clariant Pakistan, also fell by Rs3.25 to Rs3.90.

Trading volume rose to 265m shares from the previous 243m shares as gainers maintained a firm lead over the losers at 201 to 108, with 64 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by Hub-Power, up 65 paisa at Rs30.45 on 87m shares followed by Sui Northern Gas, higher 45 paisa at Rs20.05 on 14m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, firm by five paisa at Rs13.70 also on 14m shares, PSO, lower 65 paisa at Rs184.60 on 13m shares and Telecard, higher by Rs1.15 at Rs17.55 on 11m shares.

Other actives were led by Nishat Mills, higher 60 paisa on 11m shares, KESC, steady 15 paisa also on 11m shares, Engro Chemical, up one rupee on 10m shares, PTCL, firm by 35 paisa on 9m shares and Fauji Fertiliser, higher 85 paisa also on 9m shares.

CLEARED LIST: Hub-Power remained in strong speculative demand and rose by 70 paisa at Rs30.50 on 16m shares followed by PTCL, up 25 paisa at Rs21.90 on 15m shares and PSO, easy by 10 paisa at Rs185.50 on 7m shares.