Mixed sentiments continued on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) like the previous week and equities witnessed both upward and downward moves, ending up finally on positive note. The LSE-25 index gained 18.65 points to close at 3276.50 against 3257.85 of Friday, while transaction volume rose to 4.091 million shares, as compared to 2.914 million shares traded last Friday.
The market opened on a positive note and kept on gaining during early part of the day. However, range bound activity was still in place due to dilly-dallying attitude on the part of small investors. The market, however, made some impressive moves during second session and finally closed with positive sign.
Lotte Pakistan Ltd, Arif Habib Securities, Byco Petroleum Ltd, Nishat Mills Ltd, Bank of Punjab, D G Khan Cement, Dewan Salman Fibre Ltd, NIB Bank Ltd, National Bank, and Askari Bank Ltd were the volume leaders.
According to the analysts, closing of last quarter on the part of companies has given a new hope to the investors, as they are expecting some good announcement from market leaders. However, they admitted in the same breath that public participation is dismal low and major holdings in the market are lying with big investors. They said the big investors would try to cash attractive dividends out of upcoming company announcements. The gainers were considerably ahead of declining ones, as out of a total of 103 active issues, 40 companies posted gains, 19 went down, while 44 companies stayed glued to their previous levels.
ICI Pakistan Ltd topped among the gainers with Rs 4.20, followed by MCB Bank Ltd by Rs 2.84, Habib Bank Ltd by Rs 2.39, while Pakistan Oil Fields Ltd and Nishat Mills Ltd were up by Rs 2.36 and Rs 2.33, respectively. Among losers, Allied Bank Ltd lost by Rs 2.06, Fauji Fertiliser Co was declined by Rs 1.15, while Dewan Cement Ltd and The Royal Bank of Scotland were down by 40-paisa and 25-paisa, respectively.
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