Equities moved both ways on Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and closed on mixed note amid improved trading turnover on account of fresh buying in selective shares. The LSE-25 index improved marginally by 4.84 points and finished at 2847.18 points against 2842.34 points of Monday. Transaction volume significantly increased to 17.996 million shares as compared to 14.706 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market opened on a healthy sign and showed improvement of 30 points during first 15-minute trading. Afterwards, its tempo kept on changing because of investors' behaviour who opted "buy on dip and sell on strength" policy. As a result, the market witnessed considerable fluctuation. Once the index rose to 2890 points but could not sustain mainly on account of selling pressure. National Bank, Bank of Punjab, MCB Bank, Faysal Bank, Pak Oilfields, PPL, Nishat Chunian, Nishat Mills and Adamjee Insurance and Lucky Cement kept the market in green zone, while PSO, Attock Refinery, Engro Chemical, Fauji Fertiliser, Allied Bank, Habib Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and D G Khan Cement faced selling pressure and ended in negative column.
According to the experts, the market was expected to continue bullish rally but profit taking might put it under pressure. The fundamentals are strong enough to keep the market in positive zone in coming days but it would take time to revive the investor confidence who have booked substantial losses in past. The improving volume now reflected the investors' increasing interest. If the turnover continued to rise persistently, it would play vital role in attracting investors' interest, they added.
Losers were just ahead of gainers as of 99 companies, 30 showed strength, 31 registered losses, while 38 companies stayed glued to their previous levels. National Bank improved by Rs 3.41, Adamjee Insurance gained Rs 2.99 and Nishat Mills appreciated by Rs 2.44 while Bank of Punjab and Lucky Cement were up by Rs 0.99 each.
However, PSO declined by Rs 6.34, and Engro Chemical lost Rs 2.90, while ICI Pakistan and Mari Gas depreciated by Rs 2.39 and Rs 2.00 respectively. Bank of Punjab was market leader with trading of 4.967 million shares, while Bank Alfalah was runner-up with 2.840 million shares.