Mixed trend prevailed on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) where equities registered losses under the lead of blue chips, while selling in PPL and other petroleum shares kept the investors away from buying spree on account of profit-taking.
The LSE-25 index marginally declined by 3.32 points, closing at 2816.61 against 2819.93 of Monday, while transaction volume recorded an increase of 4.239 million shares to 59.922 million shares, as compared to 55.683 million shares traded a day earlier.
The Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), PSO, Adamjee Insurance, Engro Chemical, National Bank, OGDCL and DG Khan Cement dragged the market into negative zone. However, Lucky Cement, Pakistan Premier Fund, Pioneer Cement, and PTCL helped market avert more declines.
The market, which opened on a healthy note, continued upward move for some time, but could not sustain, and started declining due to profit-taking.
The investors were conscious and avoided transactions. Instead, they preferred offloading their holdings to secure their positions.
There was nothing adverse which could disturb the market sentiments, except news that the British high commissioner to Pakistan, on receipt of security threats, has suspended visa service, said Javed Iqbal of Javed Iqbal Securities, while commenting on the market trend.
This news created panic among the investors, who after offloading their positions, left the brokerage houses empty handed, he added.
Another factor that led the equities downward was profit-taking in petroleum sector shares, particularly in PPL, PSO and OGDCL, he said, adding the PPL, in provisional trading, touched a new high of Rs 119 after opening at Rs 117.40, which persuaded the investors for profit-taking.
There was significant development on political front, as Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister in-waiting, has submitted his nomination papers to contest elections on National Assembly seat. As the Opposition parties have so far failed in bringing joint candidate against him that generated optimism among the investors that Shaukat might be elected unopposed. After election of Shaukat Aziz as new prime minister, the market would witness bullish rally, and show significant upward move, he maintained.
Declining stocks were just ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 98 active issues, 21 companies registered gains, 25 landed in negative column, while 52 stayed glued to its previous levels.
FFC gained Rs 3; Umer Fabrics improved by Rs 1.70, while Metropolitan Bank and Union Bank were up by Rs 1.60 and Rs 0.85, respectively.
PPL declined by Rs 2.50, PSO lost Rs 1.60, while Adamjee Insurance and Engro Chemical were down by Rs 1.10 and 90 paisa, respectively.
Bank of Punjab was the market leader whose 10.012 million shares changed hands, followed by Lucky Cement with total transaction of 8.718 million shares.