Mixed trend on LSE

A mixed trend was observed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday, where equities moved to and fro and finally ended marginally down on account of late day profit-taking. The LSE-25 index finished at 4,789.63 points as against 4,775.73 of Tuesday, depicting a marginal improvement of 13.90 points.
The turnover mounted to 62.905 million shares from 52.259 million shares of the preceding session, increasing by 10.646 million shares. The market opened on a positive note with an aggressive buying activity in selective chips in the first half of the session. Later, it kept fluctuating up and down to finally finish with a slight gain, brokers said.
According to them, heavy profit-taking surfaced in late session, which triggered pressure in the market. According to an analyst, the news regarding government's plan to impose capital gain tax on shares disturbed the market sentiment and it failed to move in a single direction.
Moreover, there were also news reports that the government was unlikely to give any relaxation in CVT and withholding tax in the federal budget, which also added to the pressure. However, interest was seen in Arif Habib Securities, ICI, some banks and fertilisers, which somehow boosted the sentiment, brokers reported.
An either side fluctuation was seen almost in all key scrips, including petroleum and banking sectors, following lack of support from potential investors, said Umair Butt, director, Dosslani Securities Ltd.
He said that local investors are preferring day trading and in no way seem interested in long-term investment. The news of possibility of levying capital gain tax on shares in the budget forced people to go for profit-taking, which was seen across the board on Wednesday, he pointed out.
About the capital gain tax, he said it will hamper the market and the market might crash, therefore, the government must look into its repercussions before taking a decision in this regard. In all, 152 scrips changed hands, of which, 21 surged, 41 declined, while 90 stayed intact to their overnight positions.
Among major gainers, Arif Habib Securities soared by Rs 14.60, ICI Pakistan Rs 7.25, Javed Omer Vohra & Co Rs 4.85, National Bank Rs 4.20 and Engro Chemical Rs 4.00. In negative column, Adamjee Insurance lost its worth by Rs 8.25, Attock Refinery Rs 3.50, PPL Rs 3.40, MCB Bank Rs 3.05 and DG Khan Cement Rs 2.05. Lucky Cement and DG Khan Cement were the volume leaders with 8.474 million and 6.617 million shares, respectively.