Rush for Pakistan oil firm shares

The sale has attracted many first-time share buyers

Pakistan Petroleum's share flotation has drawn a huge response, with analysts estimating it was oversubscribed by about four times.

Dealers have been deluged by investors keen to invest money in the oil and natural gas field operator.

The sell-off comes amid new confidence in stocks, following the Karachi 100 index's fourfold rise in three years.

Pakistan was planning to raise 3.7bn rupees ($64m) by selling a 10% stake in the company.

"We have received a record 630,000 applications and are still counting," Saleem Gull Sheikh of the Privatisation Commission told Reuters news agency.

The interest in the Pakistan Petroleum IPO (flotation) is unprecedented Shoaib Memon, Al Falah Securities

The total is expected to rise once the banks submit their final figures, he said.

First-time buyers

On the unofficial grey market, Pakistan Petroleum's shares traded at 110 rupees on Wednesday - twice their initial offer price.

The government is selling a 10% stake in the firm but said it would be exercising an option to sell another 5%.

The state, which is a majority stake holder in Pakistan Petroleum, plans eventually to sell a controlling share to the private sector but has put no time scale on this.

"The interest in the PPL (Pakistan Petroleum) IPO is unprecedented," said Shoaib Memon, chief executive of Al Falah Securities.

"Even those who never invested in stocks are doing so now.

"It also reflects the interest of individual investors in Pakistani stock markets where they have a limited choice of investment instruments," Memon of Al Falah Securities in Karachi said.

The sell-off was oversubscribed by about 4.6 times, according to Sarwat Fatima, an analyst at Elixir Securities Pakistan.