Bearish sentiment dominated on Lahore Stock Exchange on Tuesday and equities registered losses amid descending transaction volume due to lack of buying interest on the part on investors. The LSE-25 index lost 32.32 points and closed at 3201.51 points against 3233.83 points of Monday while turnover reduced to 2.440 million shares as compared to 3.548 million shares.
The market resumed trading on negative note and kept on declining almost throughout the day. The investors preferred offloading their holdings to get out of the market that resulted in a loss of 50 points. As a result, most of the blue chips like MCB Bank, United Bank, National Bank, Silk Bank, NIB Bank, PPL, Attock Refinery, PSO, OGDC, Engro Corporation and Lucky Cement posted losses.
However, last-hour buying in some select shares including Pakistan Oilfields, Adamjee Insurance, Fatima Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, PTCL, Summit Bank, Lotte Pakistan PTA and Byco Petroleum that helped market recover 18 points.
The declining stocks were ahead of advancing ones, as out of 106 active issues, 14 companies showed strength and 36 recorded loss, while values of 56 companies remained unchanged. Service Industries gained Rs 1.46, Pakistan Oilfields appreciated by Rs 1.13, Descon Chemicals improved by 99-paisa while Adamjee Insurance and Fatima Fertiliser were up by 33 paisa and 27 paisa respectively.
MCB Bank lost Rs 3.21, Engro Corp declined by Rs 3.00, and Dawood Hercules Chemical depreciated by Rs 2.30, while PPL and Attock Refinery were down by Rs 2.25 and Rs 2.15 respectively. SilkBank was the market leader whose 857,160 shares changed hands followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 703,440 shares.