Share prices have moved unevenly since uncertainty about the prime ministerial office on Monday gripped the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE), where majority of players preferred off-loading while others stayed away. The LSE-25 Index retreated to 4,772.20 points from 4,819.51, registering a decrease of 47.31 points.
Due to absence of potential players, the turnover was considerably down to 16.387 million shares from previous 26.683 million shares, decreasing by 10.295 million shares. Uncertainty over the prime minister slot upset the investors and their presence was very thin while other players decided to lighten positions, which led the index to negative zone.
Analysts said there was confusion about the nomination of the prime minister thus the market players were not comfortable in taking decisions and the market remained directionless most of time in the session. Except PSO and a few other stocks, the broader market stayed subdued, they stated. PSO, who dominated the entire market, surged because of increase in the price of petroleum products.
Mirza Muhammad Irfan of the Capital Vision Securities Limited said the market was expected to remain jittery till nomination of the Prime Minister. He said the apprehensions about possibility of split within the PPP were also having a negative impact on the market.
He said that after nomination of the Speaker of the National Assembly from Sindh, Makhdoom Amin Fahim was no more in the run for the prime ministerial slot. It was also clear the next prime minister would not be from Sindh, raising investors' worries for possibility of differences in the top leadership of the PPP.
Irfan said that the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was also depressed on account of Indian government's move to make 50 percent increase in the Capital Gain Tax. He said that the Capital Gain Tax ratio had been raised from 10 percent to 15 percent, which affected the BSE sentiment.
He said apart from political reasons bomb explosion in Islamabad in which two persons were killed and many injured as also important factor investors' nervousness in the stock markets. He said the market might fail to take a clear direction unless people were confident that the new government would remain intact for long.
Out of a total of 115 traded scrips, 11 improved their worth, 49 went down while 55 maintained their previous values. Among key gainers, PSO was up Rs 18.80, ICI Pakistan Rs 8.35, Packages Limited Rs 6.45, Soneri Bank Rs 1.80 and Pakistan Oilfields Re 1.00.
In red zone, UBL was down Rs 39.05, Bank Al-Habib Rs 21.25, Shell Gas LPG (Pak) Rs 12.35, Habib Bank and IGI Insurance Rs 8.00, each. Pakistan Cement Company was the volume leader with 2.780 million shares followed by Fauji Fertiliser with Rs 1.817 million shires.
Comments
Comments are closed.