LSE recoups losses

LAHORE: A demonstration staged by investors marred trading on the Lahore stock market on Thursday, which fell for the 16th day in a row. The protesting investors burnt tyres outside the exchange and blamed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the government for the current stalemate in the capital market.

The LSE 25-share index, which at one stage was down by 151 points, recorded a smart recovery after the demonstration reducing the decline to 67 points. The market closed at 3,095 points.

The investors protested against what they said non-transparent intervention by the SECP, which favoured big brokers at the expense of small investors. They said lack of confidence had led to uncertainty in the market.

Out of 91 active shares, prices of 10 rose, 46 fell and 35 stood unchanged. Trading volume was 5.6 million shares. NIB Bank continued to be the volume leader recording a turnover of 1.9 million shares. Remaining top 10 volume leaders had volumes of less than 350,000 shares. Three of the volume leaders managed to end the day as gainers.

In the morning, the market started on an extremely bearish note. Share prices tumbled so quickly that the index moved down by over 150 points within the first hour. Then the recovery started after 1pm and continued till the close.

All listed sectors were in the red but commercial banks and oil and gas companies suffered the most.

Among commercial banks, MCB led the losers with a decrease of Rs12.91 per share followed by Habib Bank, National Bank and Allied Bank, which lost Rs9.21, Rs5.83 and Rs3.47 respectively.

There were no gainers in the cement sector and some units lost substantial values.

The insurance sector was totally bearish, led by Adamjee Insurance Co, which shed Rs11.50. All four refineries posted falls in share prices with National Refinery on the top weakening by Rs12.35.

PSO was the lone gainer among oil and gas marketing companies while Attock Petroleum and Shell Pakistan each lost over Rs17. All oil and gas marketing companies remained under the complete control of bears.