KARACHI, March 18: Stocks on Thursday failed to sustain the early run-up as late profit-selling in some of the pivotals allowed the broader market to finish with clipped gains but the outlook appears to be optimistic.

After several abortive attempts, the KSE 100-share index, however, briefly breached through the psychological barrier of 5,000 points boosted by heavy buying in the leading base shares under the lead of PSO, PTCL and some others.

Bulk of the buying remained confined to the cement sector where current actives among them turned out to be large volumes at the higher levels on active short-covering followed by reports of higher earnings and good dividends by them, dealers said.

The index finally ended 8.06 points lower at 4,974.23 after early hitting the day's best bid at 5,010 as compared to 4,982.29 a day earlier in a briskly traded session of over 400m shares.

But it may not be the end of the straight fight between the bulls and the bears over the index level, the former had the reasons to be on the winning side, of course, not in a very distant future, brokers said.

"There are more than one reasons to believe that its meteoric rise, which started some three years back could not be halted," analysts said. "Its sustained run-up backed by some positive developments, including cheaper bank rates and higher dividend payouts, could continue beyond this level."

Over the last three years, the KSE 100-share had risen by about 300 per cent since its upward thrust began from the 2,000 points and took along with it the market capital to a new peak level of Rs1,315 billion.

"The Rubicon at last has been crossed allaying fears of those investors who thought the rise is speculative," brokers say. "Many still believe the breach of successive barriers of 3,000, 4,000 and now 5,000 during the last about one year is not supported by objective economic and market conditions, although most of them also belong to the same bull group, which sustains its run-up."

Plus signs again dominated the list, major gainers being Siemens Pakistan and Parke-Davis, which spurted by Rs28.95 and Rs40, followed by International Industries, Javed Omer, Thal Industries, Exide Pakistan, Shezan International and Ferozsons Lab, up by Rs3 to Rs9.95.

Losers were led by Packages, Nestle MilkPak and IGI Insurance, off Rs6.45 to Rs8 followed by Pakistan Resource Insurance, Fazal Textiles, Gatron Industries, Attock Refinery, Pakistan Refinery, Pakistan Gum Chemicals, Pakistan Services, Noon Pakistan and Pakistan Cable, which suffered fall ranging from Rs2 to Rs3.35.

Trading volume rose to 405.165m shares from the previous 310m shares as the gainers maintained a strong lead over the losers at 221 to 196, with 44 shares holding on to the last levels.

The most active list was topped by Lucky Cement, up Rs1.35 at Rs30.90 on 70m shares followed by D.G. Khan Cement, higher by 25 paisa at Rs48.95 on 52m shares, Fauji Cement, firm 15 paisa at Rs13.35 on 48m shares, Sui Northern Gas, up 65 paisa on 58m shares and OGDCL, off 40 paisa at Rs54.45 on 29m shares.

Other actives included Maple Leaf Cement, up 45 paisa on 23m shares, Dewan Salman, higher 40 paisa on 19m shares, Saadi Cement, steady by 15 paisa on 17m shares, PTCL, easy 10 paisa on 12m shares and FF Bin Qasim, lower 20 paisa on 9m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Sui Northern Gas came in for active support and rose 55 paisa at Rs58 on 6m shares followed by Dewan Salman, up 30 paisa at Rs25.40 on 3m shares, FF Bin Qasim, lower 20 paisa at Rs20.45 also on 3m shares, PSO, off Rs1.60 at Rs285.35 on 2m shares and PTCL, easy by five paisa at Rs39.65 also on 2m shares.

DEFAULTER COS: Most of the undervalued shares on this counter came in for active bouts of buying and selling as a section of investors has confined their activity among them.

Indus Polyester again attracted good support and rose by 45 paisa at Rs4.25 on 0.652m shares followed by Unity Modaraba, steady five paisa at Rs1.75 on 0.424m shares and Dandot Cement, lower 55 paisa at Rs6.80 on 0.419m shares.

Suzuki Motorcycles, Bela Automotives, Schon Modaraba and Quice Foods were among the other actives, which turned larger turnover, major gainers among them being Bela, which rose by Rs1.40 at Rs6.

BOARD MEETINGS: Pakistan PVC on March 20; Highnoon Labs on March 22; Mukhtar Textiles on March 24; and Abbott Labs on March 25.