Sluggishness prevailed on local stock market on account of indifferent attitude of investors, while share prices fluctuated up and down, to finally finish with a bearish note. The LSE-25 index declined to 3489.33 points from Tuesday's 3504.62 points, registering a fall of 15.29 points or 0.4 percent. Volume was very thin and retreated to 25.850 millions shares as compared to previous day's 43.046 million shares, depicting a decline of 17.196 million shares or 39.94 percent.
The market commenced trading with a weak note and subsequently moved in plus and minus columns taking no clear direction in the absence of interest from the key players as well as institutions. Previous day's recovery was caused by technical reasons but, due to lack of support from the key players, the market failed to sustain the trend for the second day, analysts said, adding volume was also very low, which was an indication that investor were not prepared to enter the market because of confusion over the issues such as COT and futures trading rules. As long as this confusion prevailed, no body would be convinced to come to the market, a broker said.
Dullness prevails from the very beginning and there was hardly any movement in key scrips, traders said. Except PPL and some banks, no other prominent scrips could attract investors. In fuel and energy sector, interest was seen only in PPL, which received fresh gains, while PSO underwent pressure, followed by Nishat Mills, Bank of Punjab and MCB.
According to market dealers, there was little hope for change in the trend on Thursday if support did not come from the institutional side.
Mirza Muhammad Irfan, equity research head of Capital Vision Securities Ltd, said that investors interest was zero in the market and presence of only day-to-day traders and jobbers was seen. But they were losing constantly due to which volume had come down drastically, he pointed out. Activity will remain low till the government and the SECP take steps to restore the confidence of investors and resolve all the issues with the stockbrokers regarding COT and futures trading.
"At present, the stock brokers and SECP high-ups are in a state of cold war, which does not seem to end in the near future, Irfan pointed out. If the issue is not resolved to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders, the market outlook will remain uncertain, he added.
According to reports, KSE has sent fresh proposals to the SECP regarding change in rules for the futures market operations which, if accepted by the regulator, the market will improve, Irfan further pointed out.
Out of a total of 83 scrips, which exchanged hands during the session, 11 improved its worth, 25 closed in negative column, while 47 stayed unchanged. In positive column, Hino Pak was up Rs 6.70, PPL Rs 6.00, Adamjee Insurance Rs 0.95, Union Bank Rs 0.75 and Fauji Fertiliser Rs 0.55. Key losers were PSO losing Rs 4.85, Nishat Mills Rs 1.95, Bank of Punjab Rs 1.70, MCB Rs 1.60 and Sui Northern Rs 1.40.
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