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Stocks remain in plus territory on KSE

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: After some initial hiccups, the equities were once again in the plus territory on Wednesday where the buying interest in the second tier stocks was in abundance.

The KSE-100 index registered a rise of 9.46 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2013.46, from 2004.00 of Tuesday. The volume amounted to million shares, against 352.358 million shares of Tuesday. The market capitalisation moved up to Rs 512.891 billion from Rs 509.989 billion.

An analyst from Westminster and Eastern Services said that the index opened on a mixed note and witnessed sidewise movements in the first trading session, which later on gained reasonable momentum to add valuable gains to the index in the second session.

The PSO had lost its charm and fell by Rs 8.50, after the announcement of half-yearly accounts. PTCL, Hubco and Fauji also witnessed marginal slipover in their prices.

The never-ending bull-run continued in the ring and bulls were absolutely not in a mood to take any breath. The analyst said that the market was extremely overbought and might take a surprise technical correction, during the current week. He advised his clients to accumulate profit on short-term portfolio and wait for the market to settle down.

Azhar Shehzad, of City Securities, said that the stocks remained in the hands of bulls throughout the session. December 1997 high Ñ 2,095 Ñ was the immediate target. "The market needs a technical correction sharply, support is at 1,800 level but major trend remains bullish," he said.

He added that oil stock were rising internationally. Any supporting settlement about Hubco-Wapda crises or further rise in oil prices in the international market might push/KSE to all-time highs. On the technical side market is highly overbought on daily and weekly charts.

The scrips which are on the privatisation list were still on the buying charts of investors. The momentum at the stock market from the buyers side slowed down a bit. The genuine investors were on the sidelines as there was a lot of hue and cry that in any session the market might witness a correction of almost 50 to 80 points. However, some analysts said that as the market players have lifted the stocks on the higher prices, they were supporting the trend and any selling pressure from weak hands had been absorbed easily.

The market during trading, saw a depression of nearly 20 points but it slowly recovered and the closed on a positive note. The blue chip which lost heavily was PSO which depicted a net decline of Rs 8.50. The profit of the company recorded an increase of 17 percent in the six months ended December 31, 1999. But, according to the marketmen, it was still on the lower side as they were hoping over Rs 1 billion mark. The dividend was unchanged as it declared 30 percent for the six months ended December 31, 1999. However, with increase in petroleum prices, it might show a recovery in the coming weeks, a trader said.

PTCL on a trading of 96.674 million shares showed a nominal fall of five paisa to Rs 32.40; ICI on a volume of 7.806 million shares closed at Rs 14.70, higher by 70 paisa; PSO on a turnover of 22.176 million shares closed at Rs 263.00, lower by Rs 8.50; Hub Power moved down to Rs 28.25 from Rs 28.70 as nearly 20.697 million shares changed hands; and Dhan Fiber on a business of 11.652 million shares moved up by Rs 11.15 from Rs 11.10.