Bearish sentiment kept the Lahore stock market under pressure on Monday and the equities registered losses amid slightly improved trading turnover on account of profit taking in banking and oil sectors. The LSE-25 index slid down by 43.33 points, and closed at 2835.20 points from 2878.53 points of last Friday. Transaction volume marginally improved to 17.916 million shares as compared to 17.630 million shares.
The market opened on a depressed note and kept on moving down throughout the day. It market did find any support at any level in the absence of buying support. According to analysts, the investors were already expecting downward move because of the profit taking and thus they also started offloading their holdings to pocket the available margin. The market had crossed the psychological barrier of and sustainability beyond this level was uncertain.
According to them, the market lacked support of foreign buyers and only local institutions helped the market avert more decline. Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 117 active issues, 19 companies posted gains, 51 landed in negative column, while values of 47 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels.
Among gainers, PPL improved by Rs 3.78, Nishat Mills gained Rs 2.43, Kot Addu Power appreciated by Rs 1.79 while Engro Polymer & Chemical and Mari Gas Company were up by Rs 1.04 and Rs 1.02, respectively. In the minus column, ICI Pakistan lost Rs 5.19, Engro Chemical declined by Rs 4.26, MCB Bank shed Rs 3.52, while PSO and OGDC were down by Rs 2.48 and Rs 2.26 respectively. Bank Alfalah was market leader whose 3.005 million shares changed hands, followed by National Bank with 2.492 million shares.
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