Equities were slightly up on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday amid slim activity as key players remained on sidelines, due to worries over law and order problem in Karachi in the wake of Thursday's attack on a military convoy.
The LSE-25 index stayed at 2923.30 points as compared to the previous day's level of 2911.07, registering a slight improvement of 12.23 points.
Trade turnover remained very thin at 57.925 million shares as against 103.974 million shares of the previous session, registering a drastic decline of 46.048 million shares.
The market remained sideways most of the time in the session, as majority of players showed disinterest and stayed on sidelines fearing further disturbances in Karachi, stock analysts said.
Some interest, however, was witnessed in selective chips, including banking, auto and fuel & energy sectors, which led the index to positive zone. But the broader market painted a dull picture, which was evident from low volume that was registered on the day, stock brokers said, adding they see some improvement on Monday provided all remained well in Karachi.
The market is still in trauma in view of the last day's Karachi incident and interest was hardly seen in any key chip, due to which volume dropped drastically, said Ahmed Nabeel, head of operations, Invest & Finance Securities Ltd. However, with some other chips fresh movement was observed in cement stocks in anticipation of cut in duty on coal.
This provided some support to the index, he added. However, he pointed out that there is no change in fundamentals, but the sentiment has changed following growing concerns among investors over law and order situation, particularly in Karachi.
After yesterday's incident in Karachi people feel insecure and think "if a military top man could be attacked by outlaws, how an ordinary civilian could escape such attempts," he said. Moreover, the Asian markets also remained weak, which had also some impact on the local market. About the future outlook of the market he said: "We could expect a post-budget rally provided law and order situation improves." Therefore, under the given circumstances one should tread a safe path and be very cautious in taking long positions, he suggested.
Overall 107 scrips changed hands during the session, of which 27 were up, 18 landed in minus column while 62 stayed pegged to its overnight levels. Among major gainers, Packages Ltd improved by Rs 10.00, MCB Rs 2.60, Dewan Farooq Motors Rs 1.25, Worldcall Broadband Rs 0.95 and Gharibwal Cement Rs 0.90.
Among major sufferers, Faysal Bank was down by Rs 2.00, Picic Commercial Bank Rs 1.40, Maple Leaf Cement Rs 0.70, Pioneer Cement Rs 0.55 and Union Bank Rs 0.50.
DG Khan Cement and Fauji Cement were the volume leaders with 8.964 and 8.454 million shares respectively.
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