Equities moved both ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) and finally settled in positive zone amid ascending transaction volume on account of fresh buying in banking sector shares.
The LSE-25 index improved by 72.06 points, closing at 5514.75 against 5442.69 of Monday, while trading turnover increased to 47.315 million shares as compared to 37.929 million shares traded a day earlier.
The banking sector performed well, as National Bank, United Bank, MCB Bank, Bank of Punjab, Union Bank, Allied Bank and Askari Commercial Bank helped market recover its position while PPL and OGDC also provided support to the market. However, Sui Northern, Bosicor Pakistan, Sui Southern remained under pressure.
The market opened on a healthy note, but could not sustain and started moving down due to selling pressure. At one point, the market was declining by over 60 points due to heavy selling, but just one-hour before the closing, the market witnessed fresh entries at low level in the banking sector which helped market closure in positive zone.
The investors as well as brokers took negative the statement of US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman in which he said conducting of business with Iran encourages its nuclear ambitions. The news generated selling pressure in Sui Northern and Sui Southern, said Nabeel Ahmad of Invest and Finance Securities, while commenting on the market sentiments. Due to heavy selling in gas sector shares, SNGPL witnessed lower cap to avert more declines, he added.
Moreover, the investors preferred offloading of their holdings to avoid four-day Badla because market would be closed on 1st May on account of May Day.
He was of the view that investors remained engaged in short selling during early hours which pushed the market down. However, short covering on their part helped market take upward trend during last trading hour, he maintained.
Nabeel also said that investors should remain on the sidelines and adopt 'sell on strength policy' because trend is very confused. The market could take downward move any time, and PTCL could be contributed for decline in days to come because its earning per share is expected at 3 to 3.25 for nine months which is 23 percent less than that of previous year, he opined.
Out of a total of 94 active issues, 40 companies registered improvement, 17 went down, while 37 stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among the gainers, National Bank appreciated its value by Rs 12.75, UBL gained Rs 9.45, MCB Bank moved up by Rs 6.40 while Nishat Mills and Bank of Punjab were up by Rs 5.00 and Rs 4.10, respectively.
In the minus column, Adamjee Insurance declined by Rs 5.40, Engro Chemical lost Rs 3.40, while Sui Northern and Sui Southern were down by Rs 3.20 and Rs 1.70, respectively.
National Bank was the market leader whose 6.008 million shares changed hands followed by OGDC with total transaction of 4.191 million shares.
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