KARACHI, Dec 7: The share market on Friday remained in a bullish frame of mind as investors were not inclined to take even a technical breather at the weekend session and judiciously followed foreign investors irrespective of the price flare-up. The KSE 100-share index added another 149 points or 1.04 per cent to the overnight increase at 14,474.

The target was again the oil sector followed by cement and some other blue chips currently ruling at attractively lower levels aided by reports of higher corporate earnings and enhanced dividends.

Instances of weekend profit-selling was, however, not lacking as a good number of leading shares finished with clipped gains under the lead of National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum and some others.

The KSE 100-share index posted a fresh sharp rise of 148.90 points or 1.04 per cent at 14,473.90 as compared to 14,324.95 a day earlier, reflecting the strength of leading base shares, notably MCB, OGDC, National Bank and PTCL. The KSE 30-share index also rose by 164.30 points at 17,385.05 points.

Analysts said a section of leading investors seemed to be in a mood to push the index to its next target of 15,000 points, which appears an elusive goal before the year is out.

However, what worries them how to achieve it as the intervening Eid holidays could slow down the current rising tempo as there is uncertainty about making aggressive year-end buying during post-Eid trading.

Bulk of the support again remained confined to the banking shares followed by reports that the capital gain tax will be imposed on this sector from Jan 1, 2008, analysts said, adding “leading banks having a massive portfolio investment on selected counters cashed in on the existing capital gains”.

But what, however, appeared to be the main driving force behind the current run-up sustained throughout the week was the advent of foreign buying on the oil and banking sectors, which in turn evoked a lot of buying on other sectors, they said.

The market may run into technical selling by the middle of the next week on unloading by the weakholders but a big shakeout appears to be a bit remote possibility, some others said.

“The interesting feature of the week’s trading was that it ignored the negative fallout of the political developments as investors followed the basic market fundamentals, notably the perception of a continued bull-run,” they added.

Leading gainers were led by JS Global, Colgate Pakistan and JS & Co, which rose by Rs19.15, Rs35 and Rs36.45, respectively, followed by Grays of Cambridge, Bata Pakistan, Pakistan Engineering, Pakistan Oilfields and Packages, up by Rs10.30 and Rs15.20.

Losers were led by Wyeth Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan, off by Rs49 and Rs39. Other prominent losers included Gatron Industries, Sitara Chemicals, Zulfiquar Industries, Pak Datacom, Ferozsons Lab, Attock Petroleum, Central Insurance, Fazal Textiles and Indus Motors, off by Rs5 to Rs18.

Trading volume further rose to 313m shares from the previous 398m shares as gainers maintained a fair lead over the losers at 182 to 146, with 43 shares holding on to the last levels.

OGDC topped the list of actives, up by Rs2.65 at Rs126 on 29m shares followed by Pakistan Oilfields, higher by Rs15.20 at Rs361.95 on 22m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, steady 35 paisa at Rs20.65 on 19m shares, D.G. Khan Cement, up by Rs3.90 at Rs102.50 on 16m shares, National Bank, higher by Rs3.75 at Rs248.75 on 16m shares, Pakistan Petroleum, up by Rs5.15 at Rs254.95 also on 16m shares and PTCL, firm by 90 paisa at Rs46.40 on 11m shares.

Other actives were led by NIB Bank, firm by Rs1.05 on 16m shares, TRG Pakistan, steady by 20 paisa on 15m shares and Al-Abbas Cement, up by 85 paisa on 10m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: OGDC also led the list of actives on the cleared list, up by Rs3.95 at Rs124.85 on 7m shares followed by Pakistan Oilfields, sharply higher by Rs14.50 at Rs363.45 on 6m shares and MCB, firm by 40 paisa at Rs401.50 also on 6m shares.