The LSE-25 index plunged by 60.98 points to 6381.97 against 6442.95 of Wednesday amid improved trading turnover on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Thursday. The transaction volume increased to 5.406 million shares compared with the day earlier volume of 3.354 million shares. The MCB and National Banks, the Pakistan Oil Fields, Byco Petroleum, Mughal Iron & Steel, Systems Limited, Dewan Sugar Mills, Dewan Cement, Highnoon Laboratories and Sui Northern helped market avert more decline.
The Attock Refinery, Sui Southern, Adamjee Insurance, Fauji Cement, PIA, Pace Pakistan, Lotte Chemical Pakistan, K-Electric, Southern Electric Power and Faysal Bank remained under selling pressure due to profit taking. The advancing stocks were ahead of the declining ones, as out of a total of 82 active issues, 25 companies posted gains, 19 suffered losses while 38 companies stayed glued to their previous closing. The MCB Bank gained Rs 6.30 while the Pakistan Oil Fields Rs 3.25 and the National Bank improved Rs 2.80. The Mughal Iron and Steel and the Systems Limited were up by Rs 2.63 each. The Attock Refinery lost Rs 4.24 while Sui Southern and Adamjee Insurance shed 63 paisas and 50 paisas, respectively. The NIB Bank was the market leader whose 1.078 million shares changed hands followed by the Silk Bank with 852,500 shares.