Mixed sentiments prevailed on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) where equities showed marginal improvement in their values amid dull trading mainly on account of lacking investors' interest. The LSE-25 index fractionally improved by 0.09 points to 4,622.47 against 4,622.38 of Thursday while transaction volume remained considerably low to 21.963 million shares compared with previous trading of 36.832 million shares.
MCB Bank, Bank of Punjab and D.G. Khan Cement helped market to close in positive zone while National Bank and PCTL remained under pressure. The market, which opened on a healthy note, could not sustain due to lacking investors and institutional interest. The market was directionless while investors were indecisive in the absence of any guideline from country's mother bourse ie KSE where investors' attendance was very thin on account of heavy rain in Karachi that claimed more than dozen of lives. As a result, the volume also remained significantly low.
However, the market is expected to show high degree of volatility due to lifting of ban on futures trading, said Ahmad Nabeel of Invest and Finance Securities, while commenting on the market trend. The sale has been allowed for September which would be effective from August 21, he maintained.
He said that investors could offload their holdings to secure their positions in coming week in the wake of opposition's no-confidence move against the Prime Minister on August 23.
The sentiments may not be positive because of decline in the oil prices in the international market, he added. However, there is strong expectation that market could regain its strength during last two working days of the next week provided the no-confidence move fails, he opined.
National Bank on account of its board meeting on Saturday may attract the investors who are anticipating Rs 5-6 dividend and Rs 10.75 earning per share. Besides, the provision of export rebate on cement exports could give a boost to the cement sector, he maintained. He was of the view that the weak-holders should remain on the sideline and only decide to pick selective shares only on dips to yield margin.
Of the trading companies, 31 improved their values, 22 landed in negative column while 50 closed to their previous levels.
Adamjee Insurance gained Rs 4.05, Pak Oil Field improved by Rs 2.50, MCB Bank and Picic appreciated their worth by Rs 2.20 each, while Pioneer Cement and D.G. Khan Cement were up by Rs 1.75 and Rs 1.30, respectively. In the minus column Attock Refinery lost Rs 0.95, Prime Commercial Bank declined by Rs 0.85, Nishat Chunian and NIB Bank shed Rs 0.75 each, while Askari Commercial Bank was down by Rs 0.40.
Bank of Punjab with total trading of 5.225 million shares remained the volume leader while D.G. Khan Cement was runner up with 2.594 million shares.
Comments
Comments are closed.