Bearish sentiments kept the equities under pressure on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Thursday and lost their values on account of profit taking in selective shares of oil, banking and fertiliser sectors. The LSE-25 index lost 17.03 points to close at 3829.41 points against 3846.44 points of Wednesday, while trading turnover was squeezed to 5.445 million shares, as compared to 7.860 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market opened on a positive sign but could not sustain and started declining. The market witnessed volatility till mid day observed up and downward moves due to the investors' "buying on dip and selling on strength" approach. Habib Bank, Lucky Cement, Adamjee Insurance, Nishat Chunian, Fatima Fertiliser, Javed Omer Vohra and Company and Engro Corporation helped market avert more declines.
However, selling pressure was seen in PPL, PSO, Attock Refinery, Fauji Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Millat Tractors, MCB Bank, United Bank, NetSol Technologies and Nishat Mills, which were closed in negative column. The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 115 active companies, 19 posted gains, 39 went down, while 57 companies stayed unchanged at their previous levels.
Habib Bank gained Rs 1.20, Lucky Cement was improved by Rs 1.19, SME Leasing was appreciated by Re 1.00, while Flying Cement and Adamjee Insurance were up by 82-paisa and 66-paisa, respectively. PPL lost Rs 3.33, PSO was declined by Rs 3.22, Fauji Fertiliser shed Rs 2.56, while Attock Refinery and Millat Tractors were down by Rs 2.30 and Rs 2.00, respectively. Lotte Pakistan PTA with trading of 2.671 million shares topped the volume leaders followed by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 453,876 shares.