Bearish sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and the equities registered declines amid decreased trading turnover due to lack of interest on the part of investors who remained on the sideline. The LSE-25 index lost 29.71 points and was closed at 4016.14 against 4045.85 of Monday while transaction volume was squeezed to 1.547 million shares as compared to 2.849 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market was opened on a depressed note and sharply declined soon after commencement of trading. Later, the market stayed range-bound in negative zone that kept the investors away from the buying course. Attock Refinery, Atlas Insurance, Centaury Insurance, Adamjee Insurance, Nishat Chunian, Fauji Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Fatima Fertiliser, Faysal Bank and Pioneer Cement resisted selling pressure and were ended in positive column.
On the contrary, Lucky Cement, Maple Leaf Cement Facto, Engro Foods, J.K. Spinning Mills, Arif Habib Corporation, Askari Bank, KESC, Nishat Mills and Lotte Pakistan PTA were succumbed of profit taking. The declining stocks were ahead of the advancing ones, as out of a total of 104 active issues, 28 companies posted gains, 17 went down, while 59 companies stayed glued to their previous closing.
Among gainers, Treet Corporation was improved by Rs 2.99, Attock Refinery was appreciated by Rs 2.66, Atlas Insurance gained Rs 1.77 while Century Insurance was up by Rs 1.00. In the negative column, Lucky Cement lost Rs 1.02, Engro Foods was declined by 54-paisa while J.K. Spinning Mills and Arif Habib Corporation were down by 50-paisa and 40-paisa, respectively. NIB Bank with trading of 284,500 shares topped the volume leaders followed by Silk Bank with 190,500 shares.