Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday where equities moved both ways and finally stayed in negative zone amid marginally decreased trading turnover. The LSE-25 index lost 7.11 points and was finished at 3571.84 points against 3578.95 points of Tuesday, while transaction volume was squeezed to 3.865 million shares, as compared to last day volume of 3.922 million shares.
The market resumed trading on a depressed note and lost over 30 points during first trading hours. As soon as the trading commenced, the investors offloaded their holdings in banking shares including MCB Bank, Habib Bank, United Bank, Allied Bank and NIB Bank, while OGDC, Fauji Fertiliser, Kot Addu Power, D.G. Khan Cement, Nishat Chunian, Lotte Pakistan PTA, and Nimir Industrial Chemical also remained under pressure.
Later, the market witnessed buying interest in some blue chips like Attock Refinery, Pakistan Oil Fields, PSO, PPL, Byco Petroleum, Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Treet Corporation, Nishat Chunian Power, National Bank, Bank of Punjab and Arif Habib Corporation. The buying support helped the market avert more declines till the closing of trading.
The gainers were just more than the losers, as out of a total of 95 active issues, 26 companies registered gains, 22 went down, while 47 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels. Attock Refinery gained Rs 5.83, Pakistan Oil Fields was appreciated by Rs 4.51, PSO was improved by Rs 3.81, while Engro Corporation and Treet Corporation were up by Rs 3.78 and Rs 1.20, respectively.
In the negative column, OGDC was declined by Rs 3.00, MCB Bank lost Rs 2.39, Fauji Fertiliser was depreciated by Rs 2.05, while Habib Bank and Kot Addu were down by 69-paisa and 62-paisa, respectively. Hub Power was the market leader whose 850,247 shares changed hands followed by NIB Bank with 329,106 shares.