LAHORE (February 09 2010): Mixed sentiments prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) where banking sector led the equities downward amid decreased trading turnover because of lacking interest on the part of investors but the last-hour buying in oil sector shares helped market improvement.

The LSE-25 index recorded an improvement of 19.11 points to close at 3067.66 against 3048.55 of last Friday while transaction volume considerably declined from previous volume of 26.021 million shares to 17.642 million shares.

The market opened on a positive sign and kept on moving up and down throughout the day. However, just before the closing of trading, the market witnessed fresh buying in selective scrips, including Pakistan Oil Fields, OGDC, PPL, Byco Petroleum of the oil sector that enabled the market to cross the 3080 mark.

Nishat Mills, Engro Corporation, Engro Polymer and Chemical, D G Khan Cement, Fauji Cement, and Dewan Salman Fibre also supported the market. However, Lafarge Pakistan Cement, Maple Leaf Cement, Dewan Cement, Habib Bank, United Bank, MCB Bank, Attock Refinery and Mari Gas remained under pressure on account of profit taking.

The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 120 active issues, 37 companies showed strength and closed with gains, 43 went down, while values of 40 companies stayed glued to their previous levels.

Engro Corporation gained Rs 6.60, Pak Oil Field was improved by Rs 2.56, while OGDC and PPPL were up by Rs 2.30 and Rs 1.42 respectively. On the contrary, Agriauto Industries lost Rs 2.99, Mari Gas was declined by Rs 1.90, while Ibrahim Fibres and Attock Refinery were down by Rs 1.76 and Rs 1.25 respectively. Lafarge Pakistan Cement was the market leader whose 5.158 million shares changed hands followed by Byco Petroleum with 1.708 million shares.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010