LSE on 5 AUG, 2008

Bearish trend prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Monday
where equities registered losses across-the-board amid ascending transaction volume under
the lead of oil and banking sectors. The LSE-25 index fell to 3062.46 against 3190.50 of
last Friday, thus denoting a decline of 128.04 points.
While trading turnover increased to 11.064 million shares as compared to 7.509 million
shares traded on last trading day of the previous week. PIAC, Callmate Telips Telecom, PTCL,
Bosicor Pakistan and NIB Bank recorded fractional gain while all blue chips including PSO,
Attock Refinery, Pak Oil Fields, PPL, OGDC, Engro Chemical, National Bank, MCB Bank, Bank
Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, Arif Habib Bank, Adamjee Insurance, Arif Habib Securities, Fauji
Cement, Zeal Pak Cement registered declines and closed in red zone.
The market opened on a healthy note but could not sustain and started declining following
selling pressure in all prime shares. The KSE had observed special trading day on last
Saturday so as enable the investors to get out of the market. Though, there was a good
number of shares traded in special session, yet many investors could not offload their
positions.
As soon as the market showed upward move during early hours of trading, the investors
started selling to secure their position which resulted in sharp declines, said Javed Iqbal
of Javed Iqbal Securities, while commenting on the market trend.
Pakistan Muslim League (N) parliamentary party and executive committee's joint meeting is
being held today under the chairmanship of Mian Nawaz Sharif to take categorical decision
prior to holding final dialogue with the PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on the issue of
reinstatement of judges and impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf. This meeting
generated fear of breaching coalition between the two major parties and sentiments were
abruptly changed. As a result, the investors started selling amid panic situation to get out
of the market. Because of panic selling, most of the scrips were closed with lower cap, he
added.
The present situation has shattered the investors' confidence badly who are now reluctant to
come to the stock market. The way, the government is running its affairs, also created
confusion among the investors, he said. There is no use of support funds rather the
government should clear its direction to restore the investors' trust in the stock market,
he maintained.
Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones as out of a total of 93 active issues, 6
companies registered gain, 51 went down while 51 stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among gainers, PIAC improved by Rs 0.25, Callmate Telips Telecom and PTCL gained Rs 0.20
each. In the minus column, PSO declined by Rs 17.77, MCB Bank lost Rs 12.68, Engro Chemical
depreciated by Rs 9.93, Adamjee Insurance shed Rs 9.88 while Attock Refinery and Pak Oil
Fields were down by Rs 9.47 and Rs 9.39 respectively. NIB Bank Limited was the market leader
whose 3.017 million shares changed hands followed by Bank Alfalah with total trading of
1.138 million shares