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RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Trend at the Karachi Stock Exchange surprisingly changed on Tuesday as speculative forces gained full control of the proceedings and base shares recorded sharp gains under the lead of Adamjeee Insurance, Dewan Salman and the PTCL.

The KSE-100 index surged by 29.21 points or 1.51 percent to 1956.86 from 1927.74 of Monday. The volume amounted to 218.333 million shares as against 156.890 million shares of Monday.

The market showed upward movement mainly because of technical factors. In the last three sessions equities had shed extra weight and were bound to go up. Upcountry buyers stole the show and recorded fresh deals in Adamjee Insurance and Dhan Fibers, while local buyers lifted sizable chunks of Fauji Fertilizer, Dewan Salman and the PTCL.

The financial institutions also pumped some more liquidity into the market, hence a fresh rally witnessed across the board, helping the index to break the three session bear run.

Salman Ahmad of Finex securities said that the buying was mainly speculative in nature as no major development had taken place. The starting was weak but short covering in the blue chips and investment stocks helped the market to close on a positive note.

He added that still key economic indicators were disseminating negative signals. However much would depend upon the talks between finance minister Shaukat Aziz and the IMF team in Washington, commencing from Wednesday.

Nadeemud Din of AHR Securities said that finally the bulls made a comeback and took over the charge of the trading scenario. Renewed buying interest by individuals as well as the institutions supported the market.

The start of the day was not so encouraging and the prices were easy, but because of quite attractive levels of various blue chips, the market witnessed fresh buying spree, which ultimately changed the scenario as a whole and the index jumped sharply.

He added that hectic buying interest in selected stocks such as Adamjee Insurance, Bank of Punjab and Dewan Salman was probably the key factor behind Tuesday's bullish onslaught.

According to a leading trader, though the players had enough liquidity the market did not witness any fundamental change. The bull run might fall prey to profit taking soon. The index was likely to shed around 30 to 40 points more till such time as some positive nod from the IMF, releasing of fresh loans to Pakistan.

PTCL on a trading of 58.128 million shares moved to Rs 31.85 from Rs 31.60, Dewan rose Rs 5.30 to Rs 52.00 on a turnover of 21.707 million shares, Dhan Fibers on a trading of 18.808 million shares closed at Rs 17.30, i.e. higher by 80 paisa, Hub Power moved down by five paisa to Rs 27.20 as nearly 18.525 million shares changed hands and PSO on a volume of 14.452 million shares recorded a decline of 40 paisa to Rs 238.40.