KARACHI, June 2: Stocks on Wednesday staged a snap recovery despite tense city situation boosted by heavy buying in cement shares amid hopes of rising export prospects to Dubai. The KSE 100-share index rose by 8.27 points at 5,461.84.
According to market sources, cement prices have soared by 125 per cent during the last about one month and market talk of opening of another export triggered fresh buying in almost all the cement shares even at the highly inflated levels. Fauji Cement was again massively traded and accounted for 166m shares amid reports of some breakthrough on the export front.
Cement producers are already exporting large consignments of the commodity to Afghanistan and Iraq, but Dubai could be major dumping ground for exports also if a major breakthrough is achieved. The prevailing Dubai prices are said to be attractive for the local producers.
The KSE 100-share index at one stage raced to breach through the barrier of 5,500 at 5,509.88 on the strength of recovery in OGDCL but failed to sustain this level and finished with a modest gain of 8.27 points at 5,461.84 as compared to 5,453.57.
The announcement of dates by the Indian foreign minister for talks on nuclear confidence-building measures and a meeting at the foreign secretary-level have reinforced the investors' perception that the new Indian government is inclined to continue peace moves initiated by the previous government.
"Making the report an excuse, bulls re-entered the market and made an extensive covering purchases on selective counters," some analysts said but fear "the tense city situation will continue to take its toll and keep the buying interest at a low ebb."
However, a good number of bulls who were trapped in some of the shares managed to get out it during a short bullish spell and may keep to the sidelines until the city law and order situation improves.
"News from Islamabad are not that encouraging," one broker fears. "A major political change may be around but after the national budget to be announced on June 12." How investors react to a possible change is not clear but a good budget could absorb the negative fallout of any big change at the highest level, he said.
Cement shares, notably low-priced among them again led the market and evoked a lot of sympathetic buying on some other counters, enabling the market to maintain a steady posture.
Plus signs again dominated the list, major gainers being Aventis, Lakson Tobacco, Arif Habib Securities and Javed Omer, which posted gains ranging from Rs14 to Rs46, followed by Siemens Pakistan, Glaxo-SKF and Jahangir Siddiqui & Company, up by Rs5 to Rs6.30.
Other prominent gainers included Jahangir Siddiqui Bank, Dewan Mushtaq Textiles, Sunrays Textiles, Gul Ahmed Textiles, JWD Sugar, Pakistan Tobacco, Clariant Pakistan and National Foods, which rose by Rs3.20 to Rs4.
Losers were led by HinoPak Motors, Millat Tractors, IGI Insurance, EFU Insurance, Packages, Shell Pakistan and Unilever Pakistan, off Rs4 to Rs10. Trading volume soared to 681.721m shares from the previous 447m shares as gainers forced a strong lead over the losers at 231 to 164, with 43 shares holding on to the last levels.
Fauji Cement topped the list of most actives for the third session in a row, up 80 paisa at Rs19.70 on 166m shares followed by Chakwal Cement, firm by 50 paisa at Rs9.65 on 86m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, steady by 20 paisa at Rs62.60 on 61m shares, OGDC, higher by 60 paisa at Rs54m shares, Saadi Cement, up 95 paisa at Rs18.65 on 35m shares, Lucky Cement, firm by 40 paisa at Rs43.75 on 29m shares.
Dewan Salman led the list of other actives, unchanged on 26m shares followed by Maple Leaf Cement, lower 25 paisa on 19m shares, F.F. Bin Qasim, steady 10 paisa on 13m shares and Pioneer Cement, up 60 paisa also on 13m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: Bank Alfalah came in for active selling ahead of balloting as some of the investors sold being unsure about the success at the final ballot. The volume was, however, light at 6m shares, off Rs2.50 at Rs63.35.
Callmate Telips rose by 85 paisa at Rs16.50 on 4m shares, Hub-Power, lower 55 pasia at Rs32.90 also on 4m shares, PTCL, easy 25 paisa at Rs42.25 on 3m shares, and F.F. Bin Qasim, up 15 paisa at Rs20 also on 3m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Unity Modaraba again came in for active speculative support and rose by 25 paisa at Rs2.221m shares, followed by Dandot Cement, sharply higher by Rs1.45 at Rs15.60 on 1.627m shares and Indus Polyester, firm by 45 paisa at Rs9.25 on 0.978m shares.
Some others were also actively traded under the lead of Quice Foods, Service Fabrics, Zahoor Cotton, Asset Bank and Standard Bank, mostly on the higher side.