LAHORE: Depressed sentiment was witnessed on Lahore Stock Exchange on Wednesday and the equities registered declines amid low trading, while profit taking in oil and fertiliser sectors kept the market in red zone throughout the day. The LSE-25 index slid down to 2258.64 from 2289.53 of Tuesday, denoting a decline of 30.89 points. Transaction volume reduced to 13.883 million shares compared 20.795 million shares.
The market opened on a negative note and started sliding down soon after the commencement of trading. As a result, the index vertically declined by 45 points during first 20-minute trading due to selling pressure in blue chips like PSO, OGDC, Attock Refinery, Pak Oilfields.
D G Khan Cement, Lucky Cement, Fauji Fertiliser, Engro Chemical, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim, MCB Bank, Adamjee Insurance, Pakistan Reinsurance, Arif Habib Securities and Pervez Ahmad Securities also remained under pressure and closed in the red zone. However, some buying support in Nishat Mills, Javed Omer Vohra and Company, Maple Leaf Cement, Bank Alfalah, and Kot Addu Power helped the market avert more declines. Afterwards, the market kept on moving up and down and closed in the negative column.
The market decline was due to technical correction that had already become due, said Muhammad Ishaq, of Abbasi and Company. Moreover, reduction in oil prices on Supreme Court’s orders forced the investors to offload their holdings. That generated selling pressure in petroleum companies. He said that there was likelihood of negative impact on the country’s economy, as it would adversely affect the revenue collection targets, which in turn could impact the projected growth of the GDP. He said the market has potential to keep upward momentum because of strong fundamentals.
Losers were far more than gainers as of 111 companies, 11 posted gains, and 47 stayed in negative column, while 53 closed at their previous levels. National Foods gained Rs 3.72, Nishat Mills appreciated by Rs 1.04, while Javed Omer Vohra and Company and Tri Pak Films were up by Rs 1.00 and Rs 0.43 respectively.
Attock Refinery lost Rs 6.96, PSO declined by Rs 5.58, Pak Oilfields depreciated by Rs 2.54, while MCB Bank and Adamjee Insurance were down by Rs 2.30 and Rs 1.76 respectively. D G Khan Cement topped the volume leaders with 2.443 million shares, while Arif Habib Securities stayed runner-up with 1.457 million shares.
[source: brecorder.com]