Helped by the oversold position of the market, equity prices climbed upward on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday to eventually close with a net gain of 61.64 points, or 1.40 percent. The LSE-25 Index surged to 4,453.63 points from previous 4,391.99.
Turnover declined slightly to 13.770 million shares from 14.598 million shares of the previous session. The market tone was highly uncertain on negative rumours coming from political front. Brokers said that the market kept moving erratically on reports of failure of Nawaz-Zardari talks in London on the judges issue which dampened the sentiment of the market and it failed to determine its direction in early trading. However, because of oversold position of the market, buying interest was generated in some key chips, which helped the index gain strength.
Analysts said that people were unsure about their future decisions and were adopting a wait and watch policy. Budget fears, especially investors' apprehensions about the possibility of levy of capital gain tax on shares business was also one factor for depressed sentiment of the market, a broker said.
Mansha Group shares, which have been constantly under pressure for past many sessions, improved their worth with Adamjee Insurance remaining in the forefront.
Capital Vision Securities Equity Research head Muhammad Irfan said that trading began on a weak note and because of lack of any support from the big players' pressure mounted. However, after midday, buying came in Mansha Group shares, especially in MCB and Adamjee Insurance, helped recovery in the broader market. PPL, OGDC and some other exploration sector shares also recovered in late trading. He, however, said that all news were negative from investors' point of view and the day's recovery was mainly result of oversold position of the market. Following lack of interest, volume was very low.
Irfan said that failure of government coalition partners to restore the judges issue and PML-N decision to quit coalition had caused unrest among the investors and they feared further political uncertainty in the country. So far, PML-N has decided not to sit the opposition but there is strong anticipation about split in the coalition shortly. Thus, under the given situation, people will not feel comfortable to go for big deals and will prefer intra-day trading, he pointed out. In all, 107 scrips were traded on the day of which 43 were up, 16 landed in minus column while 48 maintained their overnight positions.
Among major gainers, Adamjee Insurance was up Rs 10.45, PPL Rs 6.50, MCB Bank Rs 6.00, Nishat Mills Rs 5.45 and Engro Chemical Rs 5.00. In negative column, DS Industries lost Rs 54.40, EFU General Insurance Rs 25.60, ICI Pakistan Rs 6.95 Pakistan Reinsurance Company Rs 6.70 and Allied Bank Rs 5.95. Arif Habib Securities and Bank Alfalah led the market by volume with 2.196 million and 1.916 million shares.