Equities moved both ways on Lahore Stock Exchange on Friday and ended in the red zone amid descending transaction volume on account of lack of interest on the part of both individual investors and institutions. The LSE-25 index declined by 6.32 points to 2802.32 points against 2808.64 points of Thursday, while trading turnover reduced to 14.874 million shares.
The market opened on a healthy note following fresh entries in Attock Refinery, Pak Oilfields, Mari Gas, Millat Tractors, Engro Chemical, National Bank, Allied Bank, Bank Alfalah and Lucky Cement. However, the sentiment could not sustain and equities started declining as soon as investors offloaded their holdings in PSO, Habib Bank, Bank of Punjab, OGDC, Hub Power, Adamjee Insurance, Arif Habib Securities and D G Khan Cement. Analysts were of the view that market behaviour stayed considerably positive almost throughout the day.
Advancing stocks were ahead of declining ones, as out of 101 active issues, 37 companies posted gains, and 27 went down, while values of 37 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels. Millat Tractors gained Rs 13.40, Attock Refinery improved by Rs 5.93 while Pakistan Oilfields and Mari Gas were up by Rs 4.26 and Rs 3.17 receptively. Pakistan State Oil lost Rs 3.96, and Habib Bank declined by Rs 2.38 while ICI Pakistan and OGDC were down by Rs 1.79 and Rs 1.45 respectively. Pakistan PTA was the market leader whose 2.957 million shares changed hands.