Bearish sentiments dominated on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Monday where equities moved both ways amid volatile situation but finally stayed in negative zone under the lead of oil sector. The LSE-25 index marginally gained 4.18 points and was closed at 3254.64 against 3250.46 of last Friday while transaction volume was increased to 3.468 million shares as compared to previous volume of 2.455 shares.
The market opened on a healthy sign but after showing an improvement of 25 points started declining following selling pressure in blue chips. The market, once again, showed recovery but could not sustain, as investors offloaded their holdings in National Refinery, PPL, PSO, OGDC, Attock Refinery, Byco Petroleum of oil sector to secure their positions. Besides, Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertiliser, Adamjee Insurance, Nishat Mills, Sui Northern, Lotte Pakistan PTA and Bank of Punjab also remained under pressure.
However, buying in Pakistan Oil Fields, MCB Bank, Habib Bank, National Bank, Lucky Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, Japan Power and D.G. Khan Cement helped improve market index. The declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 103 active issues, 13 companies posted gains, 37 went down while 53 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels.
Among gainers, Pakistan Oil Fields was improved by Rs 5.36, MCB Bank was appreciated by Rs 4.03, Habib Bank gained Rs 3.20 while Lucky Cement and United Bank were up by 69-paisa and 60-paisa respectively. In the minus column, National Refinery lost Rs 12.00, Engro Corporation was declined by Rs 1.92, PPL was depreciated by Rs 1.89 while PSO and Adamjee Insurance were down by Rs 1.54 and Rs 1.47 respectively. Fauji Cement with trading of 649,482 shares topped the volume leaders followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 452,153 shares.