Equities moved both ways on Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and settled in the red zone due to selling pressure on account of profit taking in banking, fertiliser and cement sectors. The LSE-25 index declined by 7.96 points at 2389.14 against 2397.10 of Monday. Transaction volume squeezed to 45.559 million shares as compared to 45.559 million shares traded a day earlier.
Almost all banking shares including Allied Bank, United Bank, Bank of Punjab, NIB Bank and Bank Alfalah remained under pressure, while Engro Chemical, Fauji Fertiliser, Adamjee Insurance, Lucky Cement also closed with losses. However, Attock Refinery, PSO, MCB Bank, National Bank, ICI Pak, and Nishat Mills resisted declines.
The market opened on a positive note and sharply moved up to 2440 level in a few minutes, but could not sustain and started declining due to selling pressure. The market declined to about 2380 points. The equities were seen to cross the level of 2435, but selling pressure dragged the market into negative column.
The market kept on moving up and down throughout the day and finally closed with marginal decline in index. Analysts were of the view that there was nothing bad to put the market down but it was profit taking that led the equities down. Investors preferred offloading their holdings to secure their positions that upset the sentiment. They said that the fundamentals were strong and would help the market recover its position next day.
Declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones as out of a total of 123 companies, 22 improved their values, 52 stayed in negative column, and 49 remained unchanged at their overnight closing levels.
Attock Refinery gained Rs 5.23, Service Industries improved by Rs 4.94, MCB Bank appreciated Rs 4.53 while PSO and Pakistan Reinsurance were up by Rs 4.21 and Rs 3.02 respectively.
On the contrary, Engro Chemical lost Rs 7.44, Pak Oilfields shed Rs 6.69, Fauji Fertiliser declined by Rs 4.45, while Allied Bank and United Bank were down by Rs 2.49 and Rs 2.33 respectively. Arif Habib Securities with trading of 4.290 million shares topped the volume leaders, followed by Bank of Punjab with 3.995 million shares.