Bearish sentiment dominated on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Monday and the equities registered declines amid increased trading turnover due to selling pressure. The LSE-25 index lost 14.42 points and closed at 3298.58 points against 3313.00 points of last Friday, while transaction volume increased to 4.123 million shares as compared to previous volume of 2.971 million shares.
The market opened on a positive sign but could not sustain in the absence of buying support. The market, after staying in green zone for less than half hour, witnessed gradual decline. The downward move continued throughout the day, and investors kept on offloading of their holdings to secure their positions.
As a result, most of the blue chips including Attock Refinery, Pakistan Oilfields, Byco Petroleum, Thal, Bank Al-Habib, Nishat Mills, MCB Bank, National Bank, Bank of Punjab, Arif Habib Corporation, Dewan Cement and Lotte Pakistan PTA remained under pressure mainly on account of profit taking. However, Adamjee Insurance, Dewan Salman Fibre, Dewan Farooq Motors, Summit Bank, MyBank, Descon Chemical, WorldCall Telecom, Nimir Industrial Chemical and Fatima Fertiliser recorded fresh entries and helped market avert more declines.
The losers were marginally more than the gainers, as out of 117 active issues, 27 companies registered gains and 30 went down, while 60 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels. Among gainers, Adamjee Insurance improved by Rs 1.39, and Dewan Salman Fibre, Dewan Farooq Motors and Flying Cement gained Re 1.00 each, while EFU General Insurance was up by 97 paisa.
In the minus column, Attock Refinery declined by Rs 4.42, Thal lost Rs 4.17, Bank Al-Habib depreciated by Rs 1.40, Pakistan Oilfields lost Rs 1.40 and Nishat Mills was down by Rs 1.25. Dewan Salman Fibre was the market leader whose 1.742 million shares changed hands, followed by Bank of Punjab with 566,321 shares.