The badla increased by 620 million rupees. There was major badla increase in PTCL and Hubco by 14 percent and 10 percent respectively as weak holders took positions expecting price appreciation in these shares. There was badla reduction in OGDC by 6 percent as weak holders offloaded their holdings at the higher rates.
Tanvir Abid, head of research at Live Securities, said that oil stocks were on fire with the KSE-100 index gaining 1.8 percent to a new all-time high at 7091.12 points. OGDC spearheaded the rally on reports of new discoveries and favourable half-yearly earnings expectations. The oil exploration giant, having the highest weightage in the KSE-100 index, gained a massive Rs 3.35 to Rs 87.75, showing an increment of 4.0 percent.
PSO was buoyant since the start of the session, as positive news flows related to its forthcoming financial results had started to trickle in the market. "In the coming days, we anticipate tremendous investor interest in PSO as the privatisation story hots up. Other energy players quickly followed suit with PPL and POL gaining by 3.2 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. SNGPL and SSGC, too, gained respectively 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent on the back of the 8.25 percent hike in gas tariff.
PTCL once again returned to the limelight as the news report related to Malaysian Telekom's participation in the bidding process reinforced the sell-off prospects of the telecom giant. A rally seemed to have started in Hubco, posting a 4.2 percent gain, following the announcement of Kapco public offer dates, which is expected to stir up the IPP sector valuations.
Banking scrips, in the lead of Union Bank, BoP, National Bank and Askari Bank, made gains of 3.6 percent, 0.7 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. Some activity was also seen in cement stocks on rumours of an increase in cement prices.
It appeared that the market had significantly consolidated around the 7000-point level and is ripe for a major stride. Oil and cement stocks are expected to emerge as leaders and OGDC, PPL, PSO, POL, Hubco, Lucky Cement, D G Khan Cement and Maple Leaf Cement are the top picks.
Tariq Hussain Khan, an analyst from Atlas Investment Bank, said the contributing factor of the bullish trend was anticipation of a tremendous growth in OGDC's bottom line whereby the company is expected to earn an EPS of Rs 3.50-3.75 during 1HFY05, compared to Rs 2.26 recorded last year. Other than OGDC, PTCL and Hubco also assisted the KSE-100 to touch its all-time high of 7098 during the day. It is pertinent to mention that OGDC and PTCL generated 308 million shares, translating into a 59 percent share of total turnover.
OGDC moved up to Rs 87.75 on a volume of 173 million shares; PTCL gained Rs 1.75 to Rs 64.15 on trading of 135 million shares; Hubco closed at Rs 33.30, ie higher by Rs 1.35, on turnover of 41 million shares; PSO closed at Rs 325.30 as against Rs 321.90 closing of Friday on transactions of 17 million shares; and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim showed an increase of 65 paisa to Rs 29.35 on deals of 13.7 million shares.