Bearish sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday and the equities registered declines amid ascending transaction volume on account of selling pressure in oil and banking sectors' shares. The LSE-25 index lost 17.41 points and was closed at 3766.54 against 3783.95 of 3783.95 of last Friday while trading turnover was increased to 13.091 million shares as compared to previous volume of 8.496 million shares.
The market opened on a positive sign but after staying in green zone for an hour, it showed gradual decline. The investors kept on offloading of their holdings in banking and oil sector shares including MCB Bank, Habib Bank, Allied Bank, United Bank, National bank, Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, NIB Bank, PSO, PPL and OGDC. Sui Northern, ICI Pakistan, Lotte Pakistan PTA and Dewan Salman Fibre also suffered losses.
However, buying support in some selective shares like Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Kot Addu Power, Hub Power, Pakistan Oil Fields, Adamjee Insurance and Silk Bank helped market avert more declines. The declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of a total of 125 active issues, 29 posted gains, 36 went down, while 60 companies stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among gainers, Millat Tractors was improved by Rs 6.50, Engro Corporation was appreciated by Rs 5.87, Cherat Papersack gained Rs 3.32, while JDW Sugar and Habib Sugar were up by Rs 2.00 and Rs 1.54 respectively. In the negative column, PSO lost Rs 3.00, PPL was declined by Rs 2.28, OGDC was depreciated by Rs 2.10 while MCB Bank and Habib Bank were down by Rs 1.27 and Rs 1.17 respectively. Silk Bank was the market leader whose 7.052 million shares changed hands followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with trading of 1.136 million shares.