Bullish trend prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Thursday and the equities showed strength amid slightly reduced transaction volume. However, the LSE-25 index kept on moving down to close at 2213.87 against 2337.36 of Wednesday denoting a decline of 123.49 points while trading turnover squeezed to 2.933 million shares compared with 2.998 million shares traded on the last day.
Though, the market opened on a depressed note, yet the increasing number of companies in the green zone, for the first time after a long period since August 27, remained a source of encouraging for the investors. The experts were of the view that the things would start improving soon and if support fund is made available, the market is expected to get out of the present situation. They were also optimistic about the positive change in the next year following defusing tension between Pakistan and India while the financial reports, which would start appearing by the end of next month would gear up the market sentiments.
Out of a total of 89 active issues, 13 companies registered improvement in their values, 11 went down while 65 closed at their previous levels. Among gainers, Flying Cement Company increased 84 paisa, Dewan Farooq Motors gained 48 paisa, Nimir Resins Limited was appreciated by 39 paisa, while IGI Investment Bank and KESC were up by 31 and 30 paisa, respectively.
In the minus column, Fauji Fertiliser lost Rs 4.12, Kot Addu Power declined by RS 1.62, while Honda Atlas Cars, Japan Power Generation, Bosicor Pakistan, Pakistan Premier Fund, NIB Bank Ltd, PICIC were down by Re 1.00 each. Pakistan Cement Company with trading of 1.551 million shares topped the volume leaders, while Fauji Cement Company was runner up with 513.500 shares.