Bullish sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Friday and the equities extended further gains amid decreased trading turnover, as investors showed cautious behaviour in taking positions ahead of weekend. The LSE-25 index was marginally improved by 2.68 points and was ended at 5687.21 against 5684.53 of Thursday while transaction volume was squeezed to 2.826 million shares compared with last day volume of 5.240 million shares.
The market was opened on a healthy sign and stayed in green zone during first trading session. However, the market witnessed selling pressure in the second session. Glaxo Smith Kline Pakistan, Excide Pakistan, Habib Bank, National Bank, PSO, Pakistan Oil Fields, Sana Industries, Engro Corporation, D G Khan Cement, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, Honda Atlas Cars and Sui Southern were ended with gains.
However, Pak Elektron, Hascol Petroleum, PPL, PTCL, Dewan Farooq Motors, PIA, Bank of Punjab, K-Electric and Dewan Salman Fibre remained under selling pressure. The advancing stocks were ahead of the declining ones, as out of a total of 96 active issues, 24 companies posted gains, 10 suffered losses while 62 companies were closed at their last day closing. Glaxo Smith Kline Pakistan gained Rs 8.80, Excide Pakistan was improved by Rs 7.95, Habib Bank was appreciated by Rs 5, while PSO and Pakistan Oil Fields were up by Rs 4.86 and Rs 4.32, respectively. Pak Elektron lost 85-paisa, Hascol Petroleum was declined by 38-paisa while PTCL and Dewan Farooq Motors were down by 25-paisa and 22-paisa, respectively. PTCL with trading of 566,000 shares topped the volume leaders followed by Bank of Punjab with 481,000 shares.