Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Wednesday and the equities registered gains amid improved trading turnover following fresh buying in select scrips. The LSE-25 index gained 26.17 points to close at 4624.80 against 4598.63 of Tuesday while transaction volume was increased to 11.254 million shares compared with last day volume of 6.918 million shares.
The market was opened on a mixed note and stayed range-bound on account of the investors' cautious approach. However, just a couple of hours before close of trading, the market witnessed aggressive buying in select shares including PSO, PPL, Byco Petroleum, Engro Corporation, D.G. Khan Cement, Fauji Cement, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, Nishat Chunian, Nishat Mills, Kohinoor Textile Mills, PICIC Investment Fund, Nishat Chunian Power, Bank of Punjab and Sui Northern that helped market sentiments.
However, profit-taking was also seen in MCB Bank, Bank of Punjab (R), KASB Bank, Engro Foods, Arif Habib Corporation, First Capital Securities, Pervez Ahmed Securities, Southern Electric Power and Dewan Cement. The gainers were more than the losers, as out of a total of 93 active issues, 37 companies registered gains, 13 suffered losses while 43 companies were closed at their day earlier closing.
PSO gained Rs 15.50, PPL was improved by Rs 5.00, Engro Corporation was appreciated by Rs 2.97 while D.G. Khan Cement and Nishat Chunian were up by Rs 2.60 and Rs 1.84, respectively. In the minus column, MCB Bank lost Rs 10.59, Engro Foods was declined by Rs 5.89 while Arif Habib Corporation and Bank of Punjab (R) shed 55-paisa and 41-paisa, respectively. Bank of Punjab (R) with trading of 4.576 million shares topped the volume leaders followed by KASB Bank with 1.825 million shares.