Led by oil sector, equities registered losses on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) amid sluggish trading trend due mainly to lack of interest on the part of institutions and investors. The LSE-25 index shed 64.99 points, moving down to 4486.73 points against 4551.72 points of Friday.
While trading volume drastically declined to 14.113 million shares as compared to 30.874 million shares traded on last trading day of the previous week. Almost all the blue chips, including PSO, PPL, OGDC, Pak Oil Field from the oil sector, and MCB Bank, National Bank from the banking sector remained under pressure that dragged the market into red zone.
The market, which opened on depressed note, moved in negative column throughout the day. The institutions as well as investors remained on the sidelines. The decline in oil prices in the international market, following the cease-fire in Lebanon, put a lot of pressure on the local oil companies. The oil prices have declined from $76 per barrel to $73, while the trend seems to be continued and experts foresee the level of $70 per barrel, which started leaving adverse impact on the oil companies shares in local bourses, said Ahmad Nabeel of Invest and Finance Securities, while commenting on the market sentiments.
Moreover, OGDC, despite announcing good payout, failed to show earning per share and after-tax profit up to the investors' expectations which remained considerably below, he added. Whenever declining stocks are more than the advancing ones, it makes the market technically weak, he said.
The market's result-oriented move now started disappearing to discourage the investors' interest. If investors again receive any below expectation results, the market would take downward move, particularly the investors have kept high hopes toward MCB Bank. If the MCB Bank announces less than Rs 11 earning per share, the bearish sentiments would prolong because investors are expecting above Rs 15 earning per share, Nabeel opined.
The Opposition's plan of tabling no-confidence motion against the prime minister caused uncertainty on the political scenario. Irrespective of the outcome of the no-confidence move, the market sentiments would disturb, he said, adding the investors should adopt wait-n-see policy to avert any loss. Out of a total of 94 active issues, five companies registered gains, 45 went down, while 44 remained unchanged.
Prime Commercial Bank improved by Rs 2.80, Hub Power gained 85 paisa, while Pioneer Cement and Union Bank were up by 50 paisa and 40 paisa, respectively. MCB Bank and Pak Oil Field lost Rs 4.95 each, National Bank declined by Rs 4.90, while PDSO and Engro Chemical were down by Rs 2.85 each. DG Khan Cement with trading of 2.75 million shares topped the volume leaders.
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