Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday where equities moved both the ways and finally settled in green zone amid descending transaction volume. The LSE-22 index was marginally improved by 5.08 points and was closed at 3126.53 points against 3121.45 points of Tuesday, while trading turnover was declined to 1.414 million shares, as compared to last day volume of 2.404 million shares.
While continuing the day earlier sentiments, the market was opened on a positive sign and kept on rising for a couple of hours. Later the market showed up and downward moves that restricted the investors to take fresh positions. They, however, adopted 'buy on dip and sell on strength' policy to secure their positions.
Investors' interest was seen in selective scrips like Attock Refinery, PPL, Pakistan Oil Fields, Byco Petroleum, National Refinery, Fauji Fertiliser, Arif Habib Corporation, Nishat Mills, Lucky Cement and Adamjee Insurance that helped market closure in positive zone. However, selling pressure was also witnessed in Engro Corporation, OGDC, United Bank, MCB Bank, Silk Bank, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, Dewan Farooq Motors and Hub Power, as investors preferred offloading and secured their positions.
The gainers were more than the losers, as out of a total of 106 companies, 33 companies registered gains, 16 posted losses, while values of 57 companies remained unchanged at their previous levels. Attock Refinery was improved by Rs 6.04, National Refinery gained Rs 5.76, Fauji Fertiliser was appreciated by Rs 4.84, while PPL and KSB Pumps were up by Rs 2.36 and Rs 1.67, respectively.
In the minus column, Engro Corporation lost Rs 5.23, OGDC was declined by Rs 1.10, while United Bank and Lafarge Pakistan Cement were down by 50-paisa and 47-paisa, respectively. Byco Petroleum with trading of 182,575 million shares topped the volume leaders followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 118,500 shares.