Shares market lacks lustre

Healthy trading activity on the last trading session of the week ended on February 6, 2010 supported the KSE-100 index to register an increase of 155.54 points to close at 9,769.73 points level. The market remained lacklustre during first three sessions of the week.
However, healthy activity was seen on Thursday on the back of OGDC''s announcement of Qadirpur gas price revision. Trading improved and average daily volume at ready counter increased to 193.505 million shares, by 15.7 percent.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 43 billion to Rs 2.810 trillion. Foreign investors'' interest continued with a fresh inflow of $4.7 million. On Monday, the market witnessed mixed trend and the index closed at 9,591.51 points level with a loss of 22.68 points with volume of 136.903 million shares.
On Tuesday, the index gained a meagre 3.73 points and closed at 9,595.24 points with 191.775 million shares. On Wednesday, the index increased by 32.39 points to close at 9,627.63 points with 147.696 million shares.
On Thursday, healthy activity was seen and the index surged by 142.10 points to close at 9,769.73 points level with 297.696 million shares.
The market remained closed on Friday on account of Kashmir Solidarity Day. Nauman Khan at Invest Capital & Securities said Pakistan ''s metropolitan city, Karachi , was marred with political and security concerns that dampened investors'' confidence till the very last trading session of the week. The resolution of the longstanding Qadirpur field''s wellhead gas pricing issue triggered a positive momentum in OGDC, which escalated to across the board buying. As a result, the benchmark index KSE-100, which depicted a lacklustre activity in the initial three trading sessions, was in green in the last trading session of the week. The trigger was further magnified as it was accompanied by ruling parties burying their differences and positive news flow regarding the cement sector.
Sana Hanif at JS Global Capital said that in the absence of any major political or corporate event, the market remained lacklustre in the first three sessions of the week gaining 13 points on thin volumes particularly in blue chips. However, it rallied on Thursday following OGDC''s announcement of Qadirpur price revision with volumes standing at a 17-week high of 298 million shares.
The investors'' interest was skewed towards second and third tier stocks, particularly LOTPTA and LPCL. The second tier stocks once again led the way during the week with LOTPTA, LPCL, TRG and WTL contributing 33 percent to the total traded volume. Amongst the blue chips, PTCL''s corporate result generated interest as the scrip rose by 1.6 percent on strong volumes.