Equities on Friday moved both ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) and finally ended in green zone on account of fresh buying in selective shares. The LSE-25 index was marginally improved by 10.72 points and was closed at 3792.10 against 3781.38 points of Thursday, while transaction volume was squeezed to 3.806 million shares, as compared to 4.242 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market opened on a depressed note and stayed in negative zone during first trading session. However, the market showed recovery to regain its day earlier loss following fresh buying in PPL, Pakistan Oil Fields, PSO, Sui Southern, Engro Corporation, Fatima Fertiliser, Nishat Chunian, Adamjee Insurance, Lotte Pakistan PTA, Bank of Punjab, Bank Alflalah, Arif Habib Corporation and Nishat Mills.
Some of the investors opted intra-day trading and get out of the market ahead of weekend. They offloaded their holdings that dragged some blue chips into negative column, which include Fauji Fertiliser, Habib Bank, Attock Refinery, OGDC, D.G. Khan Cement, Lucky Cement, Fauji Cement, PTCL and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim.
The gainers were more than the losers, as out of a total of 104 active companies, 37 posted gains, 18 went down, while values of 49 companies remained unchanged at their previous closing levels. Among gainers, PPL was improved by Rs 2.85, Engro Corporation was appreciated by Rs 2.39, NetSol Technologies gained Rs 1.28, while Nishat Chunian and Pakistan Oil Fields were up by Rs 1.23 and Rs 1.20, respectively.
In the negative column, Fauji Fertiliser lost Rs 1.29, Habib Bank was declined by 90-paisa, while Dewan Farooq Motors and Attock Refinery were down by 59-paisa and 43-paisa, respectively. Lotte Pakistan PTA continued to be the market leader with trading of 1.230 million shares followed by Bank of Punjab with 715,645 shares.