Bearish sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday and the equities suffered losses amid improved trading turnover due to selling pressure. The LSE-25 index lost 79.08 points to close at 5056.94 against 5136.02 of last Friday while transaction volume was increased to 5.785 million shares compared with previous volume of 4.817 million shares.
The market was opened on a depressed note and remained under pressure throughout the day, as investors preferred offloading to secure their positions. As a result, selling pressure was seen in select shares including MCB Bank, National Bank, Pioneer Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, Fauji Cement, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, NetSol Technologies, Highnoon Laboratories, Engro Corporation, Dawood Lawrencepur, Nishat Chunian, Nishat Chunian Power, PTCL and PIA. However, buying in bluechips like PSO, PPL, Mari Petroleum, United Bank, General Tyre and Ruber, Pakistan Reinsurance, Habib Bank, Sui Southern, Fauji Fertilizer and Pak Elektron helped market avert more declines.
The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 99 active issues, 27 companies posted gains, 31 registered losses and 41 companies remained unchanged at their previous closing. PSO gained Rs 10.80, Mari Petroleum was improved by Rs 7.39, United Bank was appreciated by Rs 3.36, while General Tyre & Rubber and Pakistan Reinsurance were up by Rs 2.64 and Rs 1.25, respectively.
In the minus column, MCB Bank lost Rs 8.30, Highnoon Laboratories was declined by Rs 7.02, Dawood Lawrencepur shed Rs 4.30 while Engro Corporation and Nishat Chunian were down by Rs 3.50 and Rs 2.70, respectively. Fauji Cement with trading of 1.29 million shares topped the volume leaders followed by Bank of Punjab with 1.003 million shares.