Led by oil sector, equities registered gains across the board on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) amid increasing transaction volume. The LSE-25 index further improved by 35.20 points, closing at 4624.63 against 4589.43 of Wednesday, while trading turnover increased to 42.034 million shares as compared to 29.490 million shares traded a day earlier.
Oil sector shares helped market closure in positive zone while National Bank also showed strength. However, fertiliser and cement sectors remained depressed. The market, which opened on a healthy note, remained in the positive zone during the entire day's trading. However, profit taking continued simultaneously which the experts attributed as intra-day correction. Due to escalation of war in Lebanon, the oil sector is flourishing in the stocks business.
As a result, fresh buying was seen in Pak Oil Field, OGDC and PPL while National Bank also performed well, said Ahmad Nabeel of Invest and Finance Securities while commenting on the market sentiments.
He was of the view that market gain was mainly because of corporate results, while some rumours also helped improve the sentiments. The small investors were encouraged to hear that some old players have also entered the market and made fresh entries in OGDC, PPL, Pak Oil Field and National Bank which constitute about 80-percent of the total index, he added.
He further said the announcement regarding Dewan Salman Fiber's decision to invest 30-percent in Dewal Petroleum which was already awarded license for oil exploration, attracted the investors. Similarly, there was news regarding Pak Oil Field earning per share to the tune of Rs 34, which forced the investors to anticipate 50 percent bonus shares. All these good news strengthened the market sentiments, Nabeel added.
It was surprising for the market players that despite issuance of 50 notices to market players by SECP for March crisis, the market did not receive any negative impact. Advancing stocks were ahead of declining ones as out of a total of 104 actives issues, 35 companies registered improvement, 18 went down, while 51 stayed glued to their previous levels.
Pak Oil Field gained Rs 16.25, PSO appreciated by Rs 6.00, PPL improved by Rs 3.65 while PICIC and D.S Industries were up by Rs 2.30 and Rs 2.05, respectively. In the minus column, Engro Chemical declined by Rs 1.60, Pioneer Cement lost Rs 0.80, while United Bank and Dewan Farooq Motors were down by Rs 0.75 and Rs 0.70, respectively. Pak Cement was the market leader whose 5.846 million shares changed hands followed by OGDC with total transaction of 4.953 million shares.