Share prices turned mixed on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Thursday while late session pressure pushed the market in minus column, however, buying interest in cements averted major falls and it eventually ended with a marginal loss.
The LSE-25 index retreated to 4348.38 points from 4360.07 of Wednesday, depicting a decline of 11.69 points. Turnover, however, remained on the higher side and was finally registered at 49.920 million shares as compared to 44.256 million, showing an improvement of 5.664 million shares.
There was a volatile movement in market throughout the day, which forced it to remain directionless. According to stock analysts, the market, after showing surge for two consecutive sessions, took a short pause on technical ground on Thursday to consolidate itself at the existing levels.
Other than that, there was no visible change in the fundamentals and the market was expected to gain strength gradually, they added. Cement shares were the day's most active shares with Lucky Cement emerging as the most attractive scrip followed by Engro Chemical. On the other end, banks and petroleum sector depicted weakness and their prices retreated.
An analyst assigned lack of big players' interest as key factor for the zig-zag movement of the market, and said there was no other negative factor behind. About future course of the market, he said people were very optimistic about the forthcoming corporate results season, which kicks off during this month.
Now every one is awaiting the results, especially people's expectations are very high about the NIT announcement whose board meeting is expected to be held on 8th of this month to finalise accounts for the year ended June 30, 2006.
In anticipation of good cash divided by NIT, banks, especially National Bank, Bank of Punjab and Faysal Bank were turning attractive for investors, he pointed out.
Moreover people are also much excited about oil and gas sector shares which have outshined recently on the back of soaring prices of oil in the international market. The market, according to experts, is fundamentally strong and due to recent plunge is oversold, thus there is room for improvement but any dramatic turn in political scenario could disturb the sentiment.
The market people are also concerned about the recent developments taking place on the political front and news that JI has collected resignation letters from its parliamentarians and the deadline given by ARD to General Musharraf to quit are serious concerns, which could not be ignored by the market players, they observed.
Of 95 traded scrips, 16 made fresh gains, 30 landed in minus zone while 49 were intact to their previous level. Among most active scrips, Lucky Cement improved by Rs 4.35, Engro Chemical Rs 3.00, DG Khan Cement Rs 2.55, Pioneer Cement Rs 2.40 and DS Industries Re 1.00. In minus zone, National Bank shed Rs 5.10, PSO Rs 4.50, Adamjee Insurance Rs 4.00, PPL Rs 3.00 and UBL Rs 2.50. DG Khan Cement and National Bank were volume leaders with 7.876 million shares and 7.039 million shares, respectively.