Equities moved both ways on Lahore Stock Exchange on Monday and closed in red zone amid descending transaction volume on account of lack of buying support and profit taking in blue chips. The LSE-25 index declined by 15.39 points and ended at 3085.64 points against 3101.03 points of last Friday, while turnover marginally decreased to 11.486 million shares as compared to 12.665 million shares traded on last trading day of previous week.
The market opened on a depressed note and kept on declining for about two hours because of selling pressure. The market took a U-turn and started rising following fresh buying in Allied Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, National Bank, Engro Chemical, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Mari Gas, Pakistan Reinsurance, Lotte Pakistan PTA and Nishat Power.
However, upward slide could not sustain and took a dip because of profit taking that continued till the close of trading. As a result, Pak Oilfields, PPL, OGDC, MCB Bank, Habib Bank, Bank of Punjab, Arif Habib Securities, and Nishat Chunian remained under pressure and closed in red zone. Losers were more than the gainers. Of 100 active issues, 24 companies showed strength and registered gain,and 37 stayed in minus column, while values of 39 companies remained unchanged.
Allied Bank gained Rs 1.34, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim and Royal Bank of Scotland improved by Rs 1.00 each, while Engro Chemical and Lotte Pakistan were up by 91 paisa and 54 paisa respectively. On the contrary, ICI Pakistan lost Rs 4.00, Pak Oilfields was declined by Rs 3.12, PPL shed Rs 2.48 while MCB Bank and Habib Bank were down by Rs 2.19 and Rs 1.67, respectively. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the market leader whose 3.694 million shares changed hands, followed by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 1.369 million shares.