KARACHI, Feb 16: Stocks on Monday extended the weekend rally as investors covered positions boosted by higher cash and bonus shares announced by MCB Bank and Attock Cement amid a judicious blend of both genuine and speculative buying at the lower levels.

The fresh recovery of 2.68 per cent or 150.83 points staged by the KSE 100-share index for the second session in a row at 5,776.73 reflected that it could be sustained on the strength of some positive developments and market talk of higher payout announcements.

The KSE 30-share index also rose by 212.31 points or 3.74 per cent at 5,894.20 and so did the other indexes.

Already back on the rails after last Friday’s SECP relaxation on new accounting standards, an accord on the enforcement of Sharia in Malakand and Swat further intensified the covering operations, analyst Ahsan Mehanti said.Essentially, it appears to be corporate sector led rally on the strength of higher payouts, which he called, the extension of weekend run-up on the perception that peace in Fata after the deal could have a positive impact on the share business in the coming sessions.

There was a galore of circuit breakers on the blue chip counters. The notable feature was that instances of investment buying dominated the trading reflecting that the rally could extend itself farther at the current lower levels.

But analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali thinks the current boost appears to have reinforced investor perceptions about the upcoming higher working results by some of the leading banking and cement companies, which kept buyers active in the arena”.

“A final cash dividend of 25 per cent plus 10 per cent bonus shares by MCB Bank and higher interim cash payout of 17.50 per cent by the Attock Cement seem to have restored investor confidence,” he said.

“The future direction of the market will largely depend on how the current peace agreement in Swat and Malakand holds,” analyst Tabish H. Rajabali said. “But the strong covering purchases by both the NIT-managed fund and some leading institutional traders reflect that equities have many positive reasons both on the corporate and political fronts”.

Plus signs again led the list of actives as some of them again closed at the upper limit of five per cent under the lead of oil, banking and fertiliser shares.

Attock Petroleum and Rafhan Maize were leading among them, up by Rs9.23 and Rs65 followed by MCB Bank, National Refinery, EFU Life, Dawood Hercules, Engro Chemical, Ferozsons Lab, Pakistan Oilfields, PSO, Al-Ghazi Tractors and Sitara Chemicals, higher by Rs5.37 to Rs7.05.

With the exception of Pakistan Services and Unilever Pakistan which declined by Rs10 and Rs32.82, others suffered modest losses under the lead of IGI Insurance, New Jubilee Insurance, Shaheen Insurance and Millat Tractors, off Rs2.17 to Rs3.10.

Trading volume rose further to 180.319m shares from the previous 163m shares as gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 177 to 93, with 15 shares holding onto the last levels.

PTCL led the list of actives, up 21 paisa at Rs15.97 on 16m shares followed by OGDC, higher by Rs2.51 at Rs53.89 on 14m shares, Bank Alfalah, firm by 70 paisa at Rs13.85 on 12m shares, NIB Bank, easy 12 paisa at Rs5.31 on 11m shares, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, up by 69 paisa at Rs17.70 on 8m shares, JS & Co, higher by Rs1.59 at Rs33.78 on 6m shares and Pakistan Petroleum, off by Rs1.56 at Rs155.46 also on 6m shares.

Faysal Bank followed them, up by 58 paisa at Rs13.98 on 6m shares and Fauji Cement, firm by 36 paisa at Rs5.98 on 4m shares.

FORWARD COUNTER: Pakistan Petroleum came in for active selling and was marked down by Rs7.69 at Rs150.25 on 500 shares. On the other hand Habib Bank rose by Rs3.94 at Rs83.10 followed by Allied Bank and Bank of Punjab, which rose Rs1.33 and 29 paisa at Rs32.10 and Rs11.36 respectively.

Other leading shares, notably Engro Chemical, Pakistan Oilfields, MCB Bank, OGDC, National Bank, rose sharply higher but the largest gain of Rs25 was noted in Fauji Fertiliser Company but without any deal. Among the top shares, Pakistan Petroleum fell sharply lower by Rs7.69 at 150.25.

DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Owing to active trading in the ready section, the activity on this counter remained slow as leading investors remained active in the ready section.

However, Zeal Pak Cement again came in for fresh support but fell by two paisa on late selling at Rs0.35 on 0.702m shares followed by Japan Power, steady by four paisa at Rs1.76 on 0.246m shares and Unity Modaraba, unchanged at Rs0.20 on 0.234m shares.

Mukhtar Textiles up 24 paisa at Rs0.49 on 41,500 shares, S.S. Oils, higher 50 paisa at Rs2.65 on 36,000 shares and Pangrio Sugar, up 80 paisa at Rs3.67 on 25,500 shares.

DIVIDEND: Sanofi Aventis, cash final 14 per cent, IGI Insurance final cash 15 per cent.