Bearish sentiments prevail on LSE

Bearish sentiments prevailed on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) where equities registered losses on account of selling pressure in oil sector while retail investors remained on the sidelines.
The LSE-25 index declined by 45.70 points and closed at 4576.77 points against 4622.47 points of previous week's closing while trading turnover marginally improved from Friday's 21.963 million shares to 23.055 million shares. Only cement sector provided support to the market while the oil sectors shares including PSO, PPL, Pak Oil Field, Attock Refinery and OGDC remained under pressure. Besides, other blue chips including Nishat Mills, ICI Pak, National Bank, MCB Bank, Fauji Fertiliser and Adamjee Insurance also depreciated their values and closed in the negative zone.
The market which opened on a depressed note failed to come out of negative sentiments because the investors preferred offloading their holdings to secure their position prior to submission of no-confidence move by the opposition against the prime minister on August 23.
According to the experts, the investors were very optimistic about the bullish rally on Monday on account of KSE Board's permission pertaining to futures trading that was scheduled to be effective with effect from August 21. However, there was negative news in the market that SECP has called explanation from the KSE Board regarding its decision to allow short-selling. This not only created panic among the investors but also disappointed them; said Amer of Dosslani's Securities while commenting on the market trend. He further said that opposition's decision to launch anti-government campaign on the issue of amendment in the Hudood Ordinance may create law and order problem in the country.
Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones as out of a total of 103 active issues, 8 companies registered gains, 46 lost their values, while 49 stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among gainers, Pioneer Cement improved by Rs 1.35, Prime Commercial Bank appreciated by Rs 0.50 while Maple Leaf Cement and D.G. Khan Cement were up by Rs 0.45 and Rs 0.35, respectively.
In the negative column, Adamjee Insurance lost Rs 7.00, PSO declined by Rs 5.90, PPL depreciated by Rs 4.65, while National Bank and Pak Oil Field were down by Rs 4.40 and Rs 3.15, respectively.
D.G. Khan Cement was the market leader whose 4.148 million shares changed hands followed by Bank of Punjab with total transaction of 2.292 million shares.