Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday where equities witnessed up and downward moves and finally ended in negative zone amid selling pressure. The LSE-25 index gained 6.61 points to close at 4048.77 against 4042.16 of Monday while transaction volume was improved to 6.351 million shares as compared to last day volume of 4.846 million shares.
The market was opened on a mixed note and remained range-bound during early hours of trading. After taking a slight dip, it started rising following fresh buying in select scrips. However, investors preferred to offload their holdings to secure their positions ahead of close of trading that resulted in selling pressure.
Buying in MCB Bank, PPL, Attock Refinery, Engro Foods, Cherat Cement, Thal Limited, Kohinoor Textile, Honda Atlas Cars, Pak Electron and Maple Leaf Cement helped index improvement. However, PSO, Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertiliser, Dawood Hercules Corporation, United Bank, National Bank, Askari Bank, Arif Habib Corporation, Engro Polymer and Chemical and Adamjee Insurance remained under selling pressure. The declining stocks were ahead of the advancing ones, as out of a total of 86 active issues, 20 companies stayed in positive zone, 30 registered declines while 36 companies remained unchanged at their day earlier closing.
MCB Bank gained Rs 3.17, PPL was appreciated by Rs 2.00, Engro Foods was improved by Rs 1.38 while Cherat Cement was up by Rs 1.05. In negative column, PSO lost Rs 2.87, Maple Leaf Cement was declined by Rs 1.29, while United Bank and Dawood Hercules Corporation were down by Rs 1.07 and Rs 1.00 respectively. Fauji Cement was the market leader whose 1.509 million shares changed hands followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 1.043 million shares.