20000129

LSE values close on positive note

Recorder Report

Lahore: Share values moved in a narrow band amid slow activity, and closed on a positive note at the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) here on Friday.

There was not much activity in the market and the investors seemed to be cautious to take new positions. Most of them opted to stay away from the mainstream activity of the market.

The opening of the market was positive, but later bourses kept on moving up and down thoughout the sessions. However, the closing of the market was not bad.

During the last trading session, the equities came under selling pressure when the news about two bomb explosions in Karachi appeared in the market. Apprehensions of a further fall in share values led to some panic selling . However, the market closed on a positive note.

Market analysts described week-end selling pressure as another reason for lack of activity in the market during the day, however, they added that the day's positive finish implies that the sentiments are still bullish and the trend may continue on the first working day of the next week.

Wasim Butt of Trust Securities said that as the market has been showing bullish signs continuously for the last few days, depression was not unintelligible on the week-end. He said the market moved in a tight range under routine week-end pressure. It did not react much even to the news of bomb blasts in Karachi, which indicates bullishness in the market sentiments, he said.

Since there was no negative news on the economic front, the bullish spell may continue in the near future, said another analyst while commenting on the future mood of the market.

The LSE 101-share index surged by 4.44 points to 426.32 points as against 421.88 points of Thursday. The volume improved by 21.300 million shares to 101.516 million shares as compared to 80.215 million shares of a day earlier.

Overall there were 32 gainers against 27 losers while 99 stayed pegged to their overnight levels out of a total of 158 active issues traded during the day.

Among the major gainers, Adamjee Insurance surged by Rs 4.90, MCB Rs 2.35, Millat Tractors Rs 2.00, PSO Rs 1.90, Fauji Fertilizer 95 paisa and Dewan Salman by 65 paisa.

Among the losers, Engro Chemicals plunged by Rs 1.15, Nishat (Chunian) 85 paisa, Umer Fabrics 75 paisa, Askari Commercial Bank 55 paisa and Pakistan Synthetics 50 paisa.

PTC was the volume leader with 40.869 million traded shares followed by ICI with 16.108 million and FFC-Jordan Fertilizer with 8.309 million shares, respectively.