Bearish sentiments continued to prevail on the Lahore Stock Exchange for the second consecutive day on Wednesday and the equities registered declines amid ascending transaction volume due to selling pressure. The LSE-25 index lost 65.87 points and was closed at 3189.51 against 3255.38 of Tuesday while trading turnover was increased to 4.273 million shares compared with last day volume of 2.624 million shares.
The market was opened on a depressed note and remained under pressure throughout the day. In the absence of buying support, the market could not recover and kept on moving down. Most of the blue chips, including Fauji Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, Engro Corporation, PPL, Attock Refinery, PSO, National Refinery, Pakistan Oil Fields, MCB Bank, National Bank, Bank of Punjab, Lucky Cement, D G Khan Cement, Arif Habib Corporation and Lotte Pakistan PTA remained under selling pressure that held the market in negative zone. However, Nishat Chunian, Pace Pakistan, Fatima Fertiliser and Silk Bank registered marginal gains.
The losers were considerably more than the gainers. Of 111 active companies, 8 posted gains, 42 stayed in negative zone, while values of 61 companies remained unchanged at their overnight closing. Bata Pakistan was improved by Rs 39.47 while Mari Gas, Nishat Chunian, and Pace Pakistan gained 50-paisa, 40-paisa and 15-paisa respectively.
Fauji Fertiliser lost Rs 9.92, PPL was declined by Rs 8.99, MCB Bank was depreciated by Rs 8.32 while Lucky Cement and Attock Refinery were down by Rs 3.67 and Rs 3.31 respectively. Fatima Fertiliser continued to be the market leader with trading of 1.737 million shares while Lotte Pakistan PTA stayed as runner up with 379,900 shares.