Equities on Friday moved both ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange and finally stayed in green zone amid marginally decreased trading turnover due to the investors' cautious approach ahead of weekend. The LSE-25 index gained 12.12 points and was ended at 3740.85 against 3728.73 of Thursday while transaction volume was squeezed to 13.47 million shares as compared to day earlier volume of 14.428 million shares.
Market resumed trading on a healthy sign but was declined before closing of first trading session. Same trend was also seen in second session, as due to buying in potential shares, market touched the day's peak level and was ended in green zone despite the profit taking. Lucky Cement, Kohat Cement, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, Fauji Cement and Dewan Cement of the cement sector supported the market sentiments, while OGDC, Byco Petroleum, Nishat Mills, Arif Habib Corporation, WorldCall Telecom and Engro Corporation also remained attractive.
However, banking sector remained under pressure as investors offloaded their positions in United Bank, Habib Bank, Askari Bank, Bank Alfalah, MCB Bank, and Bank of Punjab. Attock Refinery, Pakistan Oil Fields, Cherat Cement and Fauji Fertiliser were succumbed of profit taking. The gainers were more than the losers. Of 91 active issues, 37 companies posted gains, 18 went down, while 36 companies remained unchanged.
Lucky Cement gained Rs 4.48, OGDC was improved by Rs 2.57 while Nishat Mills, Arif Habib Corporation and Kohat Cement were appreciated by Rs 1.88, Rs 1.59 and Rs 1.50 respectively. Attock Refinery lost Rs 3.42, Pakistan Oil Fields was declined by Rs 2.10 while United Bank was depreciated by Rs 1.78. Lafarge Pakistan Cement with trading of 2.535 million shares topped the volume leaders followed by WorldCall Telecom with 1.545 million shares.