Across board gains on LSE

Bulls ruled the local stock market on last trading day of the week, where share values recorded across the board gains on back of aggressive buying in state-run PTCL and oil and gas sector, helping the index to easily score a century. The LSE-25 index crossed 3300 level Wednesday, to finally close at 3329.85 points as compared to its previous closing at 3227.54, showing a marvellous improvement of 102.31 points.
Volume was also significantly up to 108.780 million shares from 81.166 million of previous session, posting a rise of 27.613 million shares.
The market showed an aggressive tone from the very outset of the trading that surprised people, as they were not expecting a bull-run on last trading day of the week, stock analysts said.
There was an across the board hectic movement in the market, but telecommunication giant PTCL along with oil and gas sector took the lead attracting an aggressive buying, they added. PTCL, Pakistan Oil Fields, PSO, OGDC and PPL outperformed.
Activity in PTCL was so sharp that at one stage upper caps were placed in it and some other chips, brokers reported. They pointed out that on the basis of fundamentals and good earning reports of banks and other corporate entities, bulls are expected to continue grip after the Eid.
Commenting on the day's trend, Mirza Ejaz Ullah Baig, Director, Capital Vision Securities Ltd, said the market people were not expecting a sharp rally Wednesday because of long weekend on account of Eid holidays, and the Bull Run was quite unexpected.
Though, the role of fundamentals has significantly increased in the market but speculators are still there to manoeuvre the activity, he pointed. The role of speculators in Wednesday's activity was very obvious. According to him, in the beginning, Sui Northern and Sui Southern led the rally but later activity was diverted towards PTCL, PSO and OGDC that further provided strength to the index. Hub Power, Nishat Mills also performed well, while activity was dull in banks.
The cement sector showed a mixed performance. The market is fundamentally very strong and news from privatisation front are also very encouraging which indicate that sentiment will bullish after Eid, Mirza Ejaz Baig said.
According to him, fresh news regarding privatisation of PSO has not only generated activity in the company itself, but also in allied sector, having holdings of the company.
Apart from fuel and energy sector, textile sector is to show significant strength after implementation of WTO regime, he added. He said that growth of textile sector as a whole is encouraging and it is expected to receive more export orders.
Out of a total of 85 scrips changing hands on the floor, 31 improved in worth, 13 landed in negative column, while 41 stayed glued to its previous levels. Among prime gainers, PTCL was up Rs 4.05, Pakistan Oil Fields Rs 3.25, PSO Rs 3.10, OGDC Rs 2.25 and PPL Rs 2.00. In the negative zone, Engro Chemical and ICI Pakistan shed Rs 1.25 each, Union Bank Rs 1.10, Picic Commercial Bank and Dewan Farooq Motors Rs 0.50 each.
PTCL was the volume leader with 32.650 million shares followed by OGDC with 17.607 million shares.