Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday and the equities registered declines amid decreased trading turnover due to lacking investors' interest who remained on the sideline. The LSE-25 index lost 20.55 points and was ended at 3008.19 points against 3028.74 points of Thursday, while transaction volume was squeezed to 1.993 million shares, as compared to 2.452 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market was opened on a depressed note and stayed in negative zone during first trading session. As soon as market resumed second session, it started recovering following fresh buying in selected shares. However, market could not fully recover and ended with declines.
PSO, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Fatima Fertiliser, Bank Alfalah, United Bank and PTCL helped market avert more declines. On the contrary, Pakistan Oil Fields, PPL, Attock Refinery, Engro Corporation, MCB Bank, National Bank, Bank of Punjab, Silk Bank, Nishat Mills, Nishat Chunian, Lotte Pakistan PTA, Pakistan Reinsurance and Arif Habib Corporation remained under selling pressure.
The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 102 active issues, 11 companies posted gains, 30 stayed in negative zone, while values of 61 companies remained unchanged at their previous closing. PSO gained Rs 4.00, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim was improved by 78-paisa, United Bank was appreciated by 70-paisa, while Fatima Fertiliser and Japan Power were up by 59-paisa and 23-paisa, respectively.
In the minus column, MCB Bank lost Rs 6.41, Pakistan Oil Fields was declined by Rs 5.42, Engro Corporation was depreciated by Rs 3.75, while PPL and Millat Tractors were down by Rs 2.41 and Rs 2.08, respectively. Bank of Punjab was the market leader whose 525,918 shares changed hands followed by National Bank with 264,510 shares.