The equities moved both ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Tuesday, finally settling in the green zone following fresh buying in the banking, oil and cement sectors. The LSE-25 index improved by 48.14 points to close at 4161.95 against 4113.81 of Monday.
While the transaction volume marginally increased to 17.818 million shares as compared to 17.277 million shares traded a day earlier. Banking, oil and cement sectors helped market recovery, while Javed Omer Vohra & Co, and Arif Habib Securities remained under pressure.
The market opened with bearish note and stayed in the red zone in the early hours of trading. The market going upward for a short while again came under pressure. However, fresh entries in selective scrips, including, MCB Bank, Bank of Punjab, National Bank, and Askari Commercial Bank of the banking sector, Pak Oil Field, PSO and PPL, from the oil sector and DG Khan Cement helped market closure in positive zone.
The market sentiments changed in the country's bourses following improvement in Bombay Stock Exchange, and European markets and investors came forward to pick selective shares, said Muhammad Ishaq Abbasi of the Abbasi & Co. The shares' value has moved down to reasonable levels being suited for buying to yield margin, he added.
The institutions appeared to be buying the banking and oil sector shares, thus playing an important role in the market recovery. The financial results concerning earning per share of the Bank of Punjab helped the banking sector's upward trend.
Among other factors, news about the maturity of a deal between Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf and a final agreement reaching before August 31 encouraged the investors to stay on buying course. Apart from that, the news about President Musharraf intending to contest the elections without his uniform was also digested positively. Though the news is positive, especially about the changing political scenario, the market failed to take a long-term direction. If some developments on the political front take place, the market may take direction, he said, adding that the investors must adopt sell on strength policy to avert any loss.
Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones as out of a total of 124 active issues, 24 companies registered gains, 41 went down, while 59 stayed glued to their previous levels. Among gainers, MCB Bank showed significant gain of Rs 12.85 to Rs 279.40, PSO pocketed Rs 6.00, Nishat Mills moved up by Rs 4.60, while Pak Oil Fields and National Bank were up by Rs 3.65 and Rs 3.10 respectively.
Among losers, the Orix Investment Bank lost Rs 9.80, ICI Pak declined to Rs 7.00, Javed Omer Vohra & Co shed Rs 6.70, while Mari Gas and Arif Habib Securities were down by Rs 6.10 and Rs 3.00 respectively. The Bosicor Pakistan was the market leader whose 1.930 million shares changed hands followed by Arif Habib Securities with total trading of 1.659 million shares.