LSE index gains 75.04 points

Bulls dominated the proceedings at Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) for the third consecutive day on Wednesday where equities registered recovery, mainly due to institutional buying, amid an ascending transaction volume. The LSE-25 index rose by 75.04 points and closed at 3470.15 points as against 3395.11 points of Tuesday.
While the transaction volume jumped to 18.034 million shares as compared to Tuesday's 16.370 million shares. The net gain in volume was 1.664 million shares. Market giants including MCB Bank, Adamjee Insurance Company, PPL, Attock Refinery Limited, HBL, Engro Chemical, Arif Habib Securities, Pak Oil Fields, Pakistan Tobacco Company and NBP were among major gainers.
On the other hand, PSO, Pakistan Reinsurance Company, Pervez Ahmed Securities, Javed Omer Vohra & Co, OGDC, Picic Investment Bank, Mybank Limited and Habib Metropolitan Bank remained under pressure and suffered losses. The market opened on a positive note and remained in bullish mode almost throughout the day, mainly due to some positive news from market point of view.
The institutions and investors were taking bigger exposure in the market following some positive news after the visits of SBP Governor and Finance Minister to Karachi Stock Exchange, said Asif Baig Mirza of ABM Securities.
Finance Minster Naveed Qamar's Tuesday visit to the KSE was taken positively by market people. He said that Finance Minister's announcement regarding setting up of Rs 20 billion 'Equity Market Opportunity Fund' was taken positively by investors and they taking fresh positions.
Of 107 active issues, 51 companies registered gains, 14 went down, and 42 companies closed at their previous levels. Among gainers, MCB Bank gained Rs 11.57, Pak Oil Fields Limited Rs 12.65, Adamjee Insurance Company Rs 10.40, PPL Rs 10.15, Attock Refinery Limited Rs 10.09, HBL Rs 8.35, Engro Chemical Rs 7.20, Arif Habib Securities Rs 6.39, Pakistan Tobacco Company and NBP improved by Rs 6.10 and Rs 5.95, respectively.
In the minus column, PSO lost Rs 3.07, Pakistan Reinsurance Company Rs 2.95, Pervez Ahmed Securities Rs 2.04, Javed Omer Vohra & Co Rs 1.41, OGDC Rs 1.09, PICIC Investment Fund Re 1.00 and Mybank Limited and Habib Metropolitan Bank shed Rs 0.94 and Rs 0.47, respectively. NIB Bank Limited topped the volume leaders with total transaction of 3.864 million shares followed by the Bank of Punjab with 1.796 million shares.