Equities moved both ways on Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and closed in green zone amid ascending transaction volume on account of buying support, following profit taking in select scrips. The LSE-25 index rose to 2329.44 points against 2307.00 of Monday, depicting an improvement of 22.44 points.
Turnover also extended to 46.075 million shares against 41.873 million shares. MCB Bank, National Bank, NIB Bank, Bank Alfalah, Allied Bank, Adamjee Insurance and Engro Chemical dragged the market into positive zone, while profit taking was seen in PPL, Pak Oilfields, PSO, OGDC, Shell Pak, Hub Power. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim also remained under pressure.
The market opened on a healthy sign and vertically improved to the level of 2350 after opening at 2305, but could not sustain, and started declining because of selling pressure. Afterwards, the market kept moving up and down throughout the day, following buying on dips and profit taking.
According to the market analysts, there was nothing bad on the economic or political front that could upset the market sentiment. They said that bullish rally may continue in the coming days, but profit taking could contain the market rise to some extent as investors prefer getting out of the market to secure their positions. Gainers were more than the losers, as of 138 companies, 66 showed improvement, 16 landed in negative zone, while 56 companies closed at their previous levels.
Among the gainers, MCB Bank appreciated Rs 6.87, Attock Refinery gained Rs 4.87, National Bank moved up by Rs 4.18 while ICI Pakistan and Adamjee Insurance were up by Rs 4.08 and Rs 3.95 respectively. In minus column, PPL lost Rs 2.83, Pak Oilfields declined by Rs 2.44, while PSO and OGDC were down by Rs 2.00 and Rs 1.04 respectively. NIB Bank, with trading of 7.018 million shares, topped the volume leaders.