Equities on Thursday failed to maintain upward slide and registered declines on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) amid depressed sentiments due to lacking interest on the part of investors. The LSE-25 index lost 23.15 points and was closed at 3249.36 points against 3272.51 points of Wednesday, while transaction volume was restricted to 2.542 million shares, as compared to last day volume of 2.890 million shares.
The market opened on a mixed note but could not sustain due to lacking buying support. The market kept on moving down almost throughout the day. The last hour buying in Attock Refinery, Nishat Chunian, Sui Southern, KASB Bank, Pakistan Reinsurance and D.G. Khan Cement helped market recover. However, sentiments could not continue, as the investors once again started offloading of their holdings in blue chips like Engro Corporation, PPL, Pakistan Oil Fields, OGDC, Byco Petroleum, MCB Bank, National Bank, United Bank, Bank of Punjab, Adamjee Insurance, Nishat Mills, and Lotte Pakistan PTA that forced the market to close in negative zone.
The declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 123 active issues, 11 companies posted gains, 44 registered declines, while 68 companies remained unchanged at their overnight closing. Attock Refinery gained Rs 2.62, Nishat Chunian was improved by 66-paisa, while Hira Textile Mills and Summit Bank were appreciated by 49-paisa and 42-paisa, respectively.
National Refinery was declined by Rs 5.82, Engro Corporation lost Rs 3.79, PPL was depreciated by Rs 3.12, while Pakistan Oil Fields and MCB Bank were down by Rs 2.56 and Rs 1.71, respectively. Bank of Punjab topped the volume leaders with trading of 359,791 shares followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 223,001 shares.