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Pakistan stocks to soar next week
2/20/2005
KARACHI, Feb 19 (AFP): Pakistani stocks are likely to remain bullish next week mainly on the back of ongoing privatisation plan, dealers yesterday said.
Corporate results of some blue chips would rally the stocks higher, they said, but a continuous rise in the past many sessions may also bring some corrections leading investors to firm their positions.
For the week ended February 18, the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange index rose by 404.6 points or 5.52 per cent to close at 7733.36 points to reach new high.
Average daily volume for the past week was 1102.00 million shares valued at 81.10 billion rupees or 1.36 billion dollars compared to 630.41 million shares worth 54.07 billion rupees the previous week.
"News of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) privatisation and speculative buying is likely to hold investors sentiments high next week but we expect some intra-day corrections as well," said Capital One Equities head of research Humaira Zaheer.
The state-run privatisation commission last week invited interest from private companies in PPL by offering 51 per cent strategic shares of the company. PPL is one of Pakistan's largest oil and gas exploration companies.
Three state-run companies in energy and telecom are also expected to announce their half-yearly financial results for fiscal 2004-05, which might bolster investors' sentiment.
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