Mixed sentiment was observed on Lahore Stock Exchange on Friday and equities registered gains amid ascending transaction volume on account of fresh buying in select shares. The LSE-25 index improved by 23.87 points to close at 2119.25 against 2095.15 of Thursday, while turnover increased to 18.089 million shares as compared to 15.577 million shares.
Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, NIB Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Bank, and United Bank, Adamjee Insurance, Fauji Fertiliser, D G Khan Cement, Arif Habib Securities, Attock Refinery, PPL and Pak Oilfields performed well. The market opened on a positive note and kept on moving up to cross the level of 2130 points during the first trading session.
However, during second session, the tempo could not sustain and market started declining on account of selling pressure. The investors offloaded their holdings to get out of the market at available margin on the weekend, said Muhammad Ishaq of Abbasi and Company.
He said that the positive news regarding success of army operation against the extremists encouraged the investors to stay on buying course which resulted in gain in the index and pushing the volume up.
Of 127 active issues, 37 companies registered gains, 22 stayed in minus column, while 68 companies closed at their previous levels. MCB Bank posted a gain of Rs 6.55, Pak Oilfields jumped by Rs 6.48, Adamjee Insurance improved by Rs 3.60 while PPL and Fauji Fertiliser were up by Rs 2.46 and Rs 2.13 respectively.
Pakistan Reinsurance lost Rs 1.79, PSO declined by Rs 1.51, while Packages and Royal Bank of Scotland were down by Rs 1.45 and Rs 1.23 respectively. Bank Alfalah was market leader whose 3.394 million shares changed hands while Bank of Punjab with 3.184 million shares stayed as runner-up.