Share prices failed to maintain the overnight buoyancy as most of the key players once adopted a cautious approach, awaiting the outcome of ongoing meetings between government-high-ups and the brokers to settle badla and margin financing issues.
The LSE-25 closed at 3683.36 points as against 3691.33 of the previous session, registering a marginal fall of 7.97 points. The volume, however, improved visibly to 44.434 million shares from Wednesday's 29.130 million shares, depicting a rise of 15.304 million shares.
The market showed a zig-zag activity throughout the session for lack of support from key-players who stayed at distance adopting a 'wait and see' policy, stock analysts said, adding except banks and fertilisers all other sector were dull.
In banking sector, MCB and Bank Alfalah were the most active scrips on account of raise in rate of returns on National Savings Schemes (NSS), while in the fertiliser sector, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim fared better following its encouraging results. The oil sector was a hard-hit sector with PPL and PSO losing theirs worth significantly, they said.
Stock analysts said during the previous session, investors taking advantage of the attractive levels picked up stocks of their choice which generated buying spree, but on Thursday because of uncertain status of badla and margin financing, the market failed to maintained the rising tempo.
Pervez Iqbal of Javed Iqbal of Securities Ltd, said the uncertainty caused by the SECP-brokers tussle marred activity in the market and for lack of interest from big players and institutions.
He said on Thursday most of the players awaited the news regarding the meeting of the 17-member committee of the SECP scheduled to be held in Karachi to find ways and means to resolve the prevailing crisis, that resulted in range-bound activity.
He, however, said the upward movement was observed in selective chips following good results announced by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, adding the company has announced 12.5 percent dividend which brought a positive impact on the market sentiment.
According to him, under the given situation the market is unlikely to change the trend on Friday (today), and expected to paint a dull picture again.
Out of a total of 81 scrips, 26 were up, 15 retreated, while 38 stayed glued to their previous levels.
In positive column, MCB improved by Rs 2.10, Bank Alfalah Rs 1.50, Fauji Fertiliser Rs 1.35, Adamjee Insurance Rs 1.15, and Bank of Punjab Re 1.00.
In negative column, PPL lost Rs 3.20, PSO 3.15, Picic Growth Fund Rs 1.35, OGDC 85 paisa, and Askari Commercial Bank 55 paisa.
Fauji Fertiliser and PTCL led the market by volume with 9.520 million shares and 8.548 million shares, respectively.