KARACHI, April 20: Stocks on Thursday finished with clipped gains as late selling eroded a good part of the initial gains in the absence of strong follow-up support from the institutional traders and punters.

The market witnessed a lot of portfolio adjustments as a section of leading brokers sold in part overvalued shares for replacement buying in those low-priced scrips that have potential of quick capital gains. Pak PTA and Bosicor Pakistan were leading among them.

The KSE 100-share index after early rising by 127 points at 12,176 on strong buying in OGDC, which at one stage soared to Rs166.45 but finished lower along with Pakistan Petroleum on late selling, finally ended higher by 27.64 points at 12,075.

Pakistan Oilfields, which announced bonus shares at the rate of 50 per cent for the last year, also remained under pressure on renewed selling and weighed heavily against the underlying sentiment. It ended sharply lower by Rs18 at Rs686.05 on the forward counter.

Essentially, it was the weakness of OGDC which allowed the market to finish with clipped gains, although blue chips on other counters performed credibly under the lead of MCB and National Bank.

Analysts said oil shares should have responded positively to a record high of $74 per barrel but they performed quite the opposite perhaps in the absence of foreign buyers who apparently awaiting the international developments on the oil front before resuming fresh covering purchases.

“It was the relative strength of leading bank shares which allowed the market to finish partially recovered, but how it would perform at the weekend session appears to be a bit uncertain,” they added.

But some others said reports from the forward counter about outstanding positions in some of the overbought scrips did worry and that was perhaps why they were playing safe.

Plus held a comfortable lead over the minus ones under the lead of Nestle Pakistan and Lakson Tobacco, up by Rs9 and Rs15, respectively, aided by interim bonus shares of 20 per cent, Allied Bank, MCB, United Bank, Adamjee Insurance, JWD Sugar, Premier Sugar and Ghaandhara Industries, up by Rs5 to Rs7.75.

Prominent losers were led by Pakistan Refinery and Shall Pakistan, off Rs16.65 and Rs18.75, respectively, on reports of lower sales. Others, which suffered sharp fall, included Artistic Denim, Gatron Industries, Attock Refinery, Pakistan Oilfields, Pakistan Refinery, National Refinery, Dawood Hercules, Gillette Pakistan, Treet Corporation and Shell Pakistan, which suffered fall raging from Rs8.65 to Rs18.75.

Traded volume fell further to 303m shares from the previous 328m shares, reflecting the absence of leading punters as gainers outpaced losers by 191 to 160, with 36 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC led the list of actives, off 65 paisa at Rs162.60 on 33m shares, followed by MCB, sharply higher by Rs6.25 at Rs258.25 on 23m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, lower Rs2 at Rs289 on 18m shares, PTCL, easy 75 paisa at Rs64 on 15m shares, National Bank, up Rs2.25 at Rs268.50 on 14m shares, and Pak PTA, up 35 paisa at Rs8.65 on 15m shares.

Other actives were Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, unchanged on 19m shares, Lucky Cement, lower Rs1.60 on 14m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, steady by 10 paisa on 12m shares, and DG Khan Cement, lower 75 paisa on 10m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC again led the list of actives on the cleared list and was quoted unchanged at Rs163.50 on 18m shares followed by MCB, higher by Rs5.85 at Rs259.35 on 10m shares, and Pakistan Petroleum, off Rs3.05 at Rs289.95 also on 10m shares.