Bearish trend on LSE

Bearish trend prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) amid ascending transaction volume following the selling-pressure on account of profit-taking.
The LSE-25 index showed fractional gain of 0.66 points, closing at 2781.57 against Monday's 2780.91, while trading turnover increased from 63.520 million shares to 76.328 million shares.
Cement, banking and chemical sectors remained under pressure due to profit-taking, while petroleum and energy sectors helped market recover its Tuesday's losses.
The market opened on a healthy note, but could not maintain its rising tempo, and started moving down after half an hour of trading.
The market experts said the institutions kept on offloading its holdings to pocket the available margin, which resulted in the selling-pressure.
This trend encouraged the small investors, who get out of the market with empty hands to secure their position, said Javed Iqbal of Javed Iqbal Securities.
A panic selling was seen partly on account of profit-taking and the rumour of a bomb blast. Apart from this, sentiments usually remained depressed due to Badla day on Tuesday, he said, adding the investors are more conscious about political developments and thus avoiding long-term positions, and prefer trading on day-to-day basis.
He also said the investors are eyeing on oath-taking ceremony of Shaukat Aziz as the prime minister. However, some experts have different point of view, who believe that market would face long bearish spell after the oath-taking ceremony of Shaukat Aziz.
Declining stocks were far ahead of advancing ones as out of a total of 102 scrips, 13 registered gains, 34 remained under pressure, while 55 subdued to its overnight positions.
Pak Electron appreciated its worth by Rs 3.00, Habib Bank Modarba Rs 2.35, Crescent Standard Investment Bank Re 1.00 while OGDC and PSO closed with gain of 80 paisa each.
Engro Chemical declined by Rs 4.75, Adamjee Insurance Rs 1.80, Picic Rs 1.40, while Zeal Pak Cement and Union Bank were down by 1.35 and Rs 1.30, respectively.
The OGDC was traded with 8.660 million shares, and topped the list of volume leaders, while Maple Leaf Cement stood as runner up with 7.948 million shares.