Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday and the equities registered declines amid decreased trading turnover on account of lacking buying support. However, buying in heavy weight shares helped index improvement.
As a result, the LSE-25 index gained 20.62 points to close at 2875.95 points against 2855.33 points of Tuesday, while transaction volume was squeezed to 668,379 shares, as compared to last day volume of 1.531 million shares. The market was opened on a depressed note and stayed most of the time in the negative zone. The last hour buying in PPL, OGDC, Attock Refinery, PSO from the oil sector and Fauji Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim of the fertiliser took the index upward. Similarly, Nishat Mills, D.G. Khan Cement, Fauji Cement and Lotte Pakistan PTA performed well.
On the contrary, selling pressure was seen in banking sector's shares like Allied Bank, MCB Bank, National Bank, Habib Bank, Silk Bank and some other companies including Tri Pack Films, Dawood Hercules Corporation, Hub Power, Habib Sugar Mills and Fatima Fertiliser, which were ended in red zone.
The losers were more than the gainers. Of 92 active companies, 13 posted gains, 16 went down, while 63 companies remained unchanged at their previous closing. PPL gained Rs 3.35, Fauji Fertiliser was improved by Rs 2.99, OGDC was appreciated by Rs 2.83, while Fauji Fertiliser was up by Rs 1.33. However, Tri-Pack Films lost Rs 2.75, Dawood Hercules Corporation was declined by Rs 1.58, while Pakistan Oil Fields was depreciated by Rs 1.07. Lotte Pakistan PTA with trading of 118,765 shares topped the volume leaders followed by Bank of Punjab with 93,395 shares.