LSE up 23 points

LAHORE: The Lahore stock market managed to stay above 2,100 points amid subdued trading on Wednesday. In the first trading hour, the market reached 2,150 points with a gain of 62 points but it then started declining to reduce the increase to 23 points by the close.The LSE 25-share index closed at 2,108 points with trading in only 20 million shares, some 12 million less than the turnover a day earlier. Out of 118 active shares, 52 rose, 26 fell and 40 stood unchanged.DG Khan Cement was the volume leader with a turnover of 2.7 million shares. Seven of the top 10 volume leaders were among gainers.The banking sector remained under pressure. National Bank, United Bank, MCB Bank, Habib Bank and Bank of Punjab all fell. Only Allied Bank among major banks managed to gain Rs0.25 to close at Rs38.99.The cement sector was buoyant as only three companies lost value while remaining 16 were positive. Power generation companies were in total grip of bulls. The floatation of Rs80 billion term finance certificates by the government to settle part of circular debt of the energy sector acted as a tonic.