KARACHI, Jan 14: Stocks on Friday recovered from the overnight lows on active short-covering in most of the pivotals at the lower levels aided partly by fresh developments on the privatization front , notably reports of fresh Expressions of Interest sought for the partial sell-off of PSO by the Privatization Commission.
The KSE 100-share recovered 135.03 points from the overnight loss of 233 points and was last quoted at 6,559.83 as compared to 6,424.80 a day earlier as all leading base shares recovered smartly from the overnight lows. Market capital also recouped in part previous losses and was up by Rs40bn at Rs1,818.231bn.
There was no trace of the overnight panic as rumours including some negative ones about the brokerage houses did not prove correct and leading bulls made the weekend session a takeoff point for their forward thrust.
PTCL, OGDC, PSO, and Shell Pakistan were actively traded at the overnight lower levels followed by National Bank, Pakistan Oilfields and some other leading index shares and recovered the overnight losses amid large volumes.
With bidding for the 51 per cent shares of the KESC on Feb 4, already on the cards, reports of invitation of fresh EoIs for PSO on March 4 from some strategic potential buyers enthused leading investors who made strong covering purchases in it and some other pivotals.
Privatization news during the first half of the current year, which also included mega state-owned units including PTCL and PSO are expected to keep investors in an upbeat mood during the coming weeks also, corrections here and there notwithstanding, brokers said.
PSO, which has declined to Rs311 in Wednesday's profit-selling, recovered to finish sharply higher, up by Rs10 on heavy covering purchases. The strong weekend rally reflects that bulls and speculative traders are not inclined to leave the field open for the bears at least for the next couple of sessions despite the fact that the market is still in a highly overbought position and needs correction.
"It could shed some more points during the sessions preceding the eid holidays next week, bulls are not inclined to sit idle until they hit the index level of 7,000 possibly in the post-eid holiday trading," some analysts predict.
Plus signs again dominated the list, major gainers being Shezan International, PSO, Shell Pakistan, Pakistan Oilfields, Rafhan Best foods and AKD Securities, which posted gains ranging from Rs7.65 to Rs37.80. National Bank, Arif Habib Securities, Artistic Denim, Fauji Fertilizer, Parke-Davis, and Noon Pakistan were also actively traded on the higher side.
Losers were led by Wyeth Pakistan, off Rs50.95 followed by Berger Paints, Siemens Pakistan, Atlas Honda, International Industries, Bhanero Textiles and Dawood Hercules, off Rs4 to Rs7.
Trading volume soared to 602m shares from the previous 571m shares as gainers forced a strong lead over the losers at 218 to 118, with 36 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC topped the list of actives, up by Rs2.90 at Rs76.70 on 146m shares followed by PTCL, higher by Rs1.55 at Rs51.55 on 105m shares, National Bank, up by Rs4.35 at Rs97.95 on 69m shares, PSO, higher by Rs10.80 at Rs321.80 on 34m shares and PICIC Growth Fund, Rs2.15 at Rs57.
Other actives included Hub-Power, off 85 paisa on 24m shares, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, firm by 25 paisa on 21m shares, Pakistan Oilfields, higher Rs7.65 on 20m shares, Bank of Punjab, up by Rs2.65 on 16m shares and Lucky Cement, steady by 30 paisa on 14m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PPL led the list of actives, up by Rs10.00 at Rs143.35 on 36m shares followed by OGDC, higher by Rs3.05 at Rs77.25 on 24m shares and PTCL, higher by Rs1.55 at Rs52.05 on 19m shares.
PSO was marked by Rs10.20 at Rs324.00 on 12m shares, National Bank, higher by Rs4.60 at Rs98.85 on 6m shares. Fauji Fertilizer, Pakistan Oilfields were also actively traded and rose by Rs5.50 and Rs6.50 respectively.
DEFAULTER COS: Owing to weekend considerations activity on this counter was slow as investors played on both sides of the fence. Crescent-Standard Bank was, an exception, which rose by 45 paisa at Rs15 on 0.166m shares, while others were modestly traded.
DIVIDEND: Shakarganj Sugar, cash 17.5 per cent, Adam Sugar 10 per cent, Samin Textiles and Olypmia Spinning, both nil.