Equities suffered losses across the board on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Tuesday amid ascending transaction volume in the absence of any positive news on economic fronts. The LSE-25 index shed 109.61 points and ended at 1897.29 against 2006.90 of Monday, while transaction volume increased to 3.228 million shares as compared to previous trading turnover of 2.343 million shares.
The market opened on a depressed note and remained in red zone throughout the day. Nobody seemed willing to jump into the market and make investment, brokers said.
Javed Iqbal of Javed Iqbal Securities said that members were facing financial problems as they were busy in clearing dues of National Clearing Company (NCCL). He criticised the SECP for freezing the market index. Had this decision not been taken by the SECP, the market would since have come out of the recovery, he added.
Of 99 active issues, two closed in positive column, 22 landed in minus column, and 75 stayed glued to their previous values. In the positive column, Habib Bank Mod Ist and Atlas Bank moved up Rs 0.79 and Rs 0.05, respectively.
Pakistan Reinsurance Co, SNGPL, Hub Power, Arif Habib Bank, Picic Growth Fund, Maple Leaf Cement and NIB Bank declined by Rs 1.53, Rs 1.03, Re 1.00, Re 1.00, Re 1.00, Rs 0.80 and Rs 0.67, respectively. NIB Bank was the market leader whose 756,500 shares changed hands, followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 681,000 shares.