Business activity remained range-bound on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday, where banks, cements and gas shares scaled up while petroleum sector depicted weakness on technical grounds.
The LSE-25 index showed a fractional decrease of 5.70 points to finally close at 3916.24 points as compared to 3921.94 points of the previous session. The volume, however, stayed on the higher side to finish at 56.749 million shares as against 50.079 million of the preceding session, posting a net rise of 6.670 million shares.
The market was not much active, as big players were least interested in taking fresh positions, therefore, activity remained slow most of the time during the session, said stock analysts.
However, individuals' interest was visible which improved trade turnover, but in absence of big dealers there was no significant movement in blue chips. UBL and DG Khan Cement were the day's star performer followed by Sui Northern while petroleum shares, including PSO, PPL and Pakistan Oil Fields moved in negative zone. At close of the market, gainers were ahead of the losers while the index ended in minus column showing a fractional fall.
Due to downward tendency in heavy weights like OGDCL and PSO, there was little change in the index, which ended with a slight downward fluctuation, said Mirza Muhammad Irfan, equity research head of Capital Vision Securities Ltd.
The entire oil sector remained in the negative zone on Monday while Kapco, which did well during the preceding week also declined on technical basis, he added. However, Adamjee Insurance touched its upward circuit breaker and ended at it its upper cap limit, he pointed out. DG Khan Cement and Nishat Mills also improved in anticipation of their results.
The boards meetings of both companies are scheduled to be held on September 19 and the market people seem optimistic about their results, which has increased interest in their scrips, he said.
Buying interest was also observed in the banking sector, except National Bank, which after touching its highest level came down, and finally finished with a negative note, he stated.
About mounting interest in Sui Northern, he said that because of fresh development taking place regarding Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, the interest has developed in it. The recent meeting of joint working group of India and Pakistan concluded in Islamabad has brought a positive impact on the gas sector, he added.
According to Irfan, there is no negative factor in the market and it is fundamentally strong, thus it may turn positive during this week. Out of a total of 91 traded scrips, 24 improved theirs worth, 19 landed in minus column, while 48 stayed equal to their previous closing levels.
Among major gainers, UBL was up Rs 3.05, DG Khan Cement Rs 2.25, Sui Northern Rs 1.70, Punjab Modarba 1st Rs 1.60 and Adamjee Insurance 85 paisa.
In negative column, PSO shed Rs 4.45, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd Rs 2.90, Pakistan Oilfields Rs 1.95, National Bank Rs 1.60 and OGDC Rs 1.10. DG Khan Cement was the day's volume leader with 13.173 million shares followed by PTCL with 6.618 million shares.