Share values remained range-bound on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday, the last trading day of the week, due to lack of interest from investors who stayed at a distance fearing law and order problems on the occasion of CJ's address to Sindh High Court Bar Association on Saturday.
The LSE-25 index ended with a marginal loss of 8.21 points to 4,480.95 from 4,489.16 points of Thursday. Overall turnover declined to 29.375 million shares from 34.839 million shares, showing a fall of 5.464 million shares.
There was no change in overnight pattern of the market as it kept moving in a very tight band, as most of the players were cautious in deals due to weekend and the political situation. Activity was dull throughout the day. However, interest in Arif Habib Securities and Pakistan Oilfields and some other scrips was seen which helped the index gain strength, brokers said. On the losers' side Habib Metropolitan Bank, cement and fertiliser stocks were top declining scrips.
Due to the issue of CJ, the investors kept to the sidelines. However, foreign investors' interest remained intact due to which the sentiment was bullish yet, Aamir Baloch, head of equity sales at Invest & finance Securities Ltd said. Due to foreign interest, Sacra touched the high mark at $826.6 million, he said.
He said that there was no major danger to the market future as internally and fundamentally it was strong, and insurance, and fertiliser sectors and refineries seemed attractive for long-term investment.
Out of 162 traded scrips, 39 were up, 23 landed in the minus column while 100 stayed glued to their previous levels. Among major gainers, Arif Habib Securities Ltd was up Rs 6.00, Pakistan Oilfields Rs 5.75, ICI Pakistan Rs 3.75, Adamjee Insurance Rs 3.00 and Shell Pakistan Rs 2.30.
In negative zone, Habib Metropolitan Bank lost Rs 4.25, MyBank Rs 1.25, DG Khan Cement Rs 1.15, Fauji Fertiliser Re 1.00 and Lucky Cement Rs 0.70. Fauji Fertiliser and Bank of Punjab led the market in terms of volume with 6.195 million and 2.373 million shares, respectively.