Equities moved both the ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE), but finally closed in negative zone amid squeezed transaction volume on account of profit-taking. The LSE-25 index marginally improved by 1.26 points, closing at 2746.31 against 2745.05 of Monday, while trading turnover declined to 43.652 million shares as compared to 45.601 million shares traded a day earlier.
PSO and Sui Northern helped market avert more declines while Pak Oil Fields, ICI Pak, PPL, Fauji Fertilizer, and Hub Power remained under pressure.
The market opened on a healthy note, but could not sustain, and started moving down following selling pressure on account of profit-taking. The investors offloaded their holdings to secure their positions. The increasing Badla volume as well as its rate was also one of the major reasons, which restricted the market in tight range, said Javed Iqbal of Javed Iqbal Securities, while commenting on the market sentiments.
The Badla volume has increased to Rs 29 billion which discouraged the investors to stay on buying course, he added.
The market was in overbought position, and technical correction had become due. During the entire day's transaction, the market moved up and down at least four times, which was considered a good omen for the stocks business. Once, the KSE index crossed the level of 5600 points, but could not sustain and finished lower. However, the market pundits are of the view that the market may cross the psychological barrier of 5600 points on Wednesday, he added.
There was a change in investors mood who were preferring to switch over their holdings into PSO on the hope of bonus which is likely to be announced by December-end. Most of the investors, including potential ones have started building up their portfolio in PSO.
He expressed the hope that PSO, PPL OGDC from the fuel sector; fertiliser and cement sectors would help market maintain bullish rally in the days to come.
Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 109 active issues, 21 companies registered gains, 26 landed in negative column, while 62 stayed glued to its previous levels.
Among major gainers, Adamjee Insurance gained Rs 2.10, PSO appreciated its worth by Rs 1.60, Sui Northern and Dewan Farooq Motors improved by Rs 1.10 each, while Modaraba Al Mali was up by Re 1.00.
In the negative column, Pak Oil Fields lost Rs 2.00, ICI Pak declined by 80 paisa, while Picic Commercial Bank and PPL were down by 80 paisa and 60 paisa, respectively.
Sui Northern was the market leader whose 7.170 million shares changed hands, followed by Bank of Punjab and OGDC with total transaction of 5.665 million and 5.208 million shares, respectively.