Charged by fresh buying in petroleum and banking sectors, bulls went on rampage on Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE), where equities rose across the board with the index gaining 2-percent. The LSE-25 index finished at 4579.20 points as against 4488.91 of Tuesday, registering an increment of 90.29 points.
Volume increased to 54.783 million shares from 50.389 million of the preceding day, improving by 4.393 million shares. The market took a bullish start and remained in the positive zone during the entire day, with petroleum and banking shares remaining in the lead. Analysts said volume also improved further, which was a good omen indicating increasing interest in the market.
However, they pointed out that turnover was still far from the needed mark. "If the trend persists for two or three more sessions, we can hope for a sustained rally," an analyst said. PPL in petroleum sector while National Bank in the banking sector topped the gainers column. Engro Chemical and UBL were day's top losers.
The market on Wednesday recorded across the board gains with petroleum, banks and cements giving a remarkable performance, Mirza Muhammad Irfan, Equity Research Head of Capital Vision Securities Ltd, said.
It was exploration giant OGDC, which determined the market direction and later the trend was followed by other petroleum shares such as PPL and Parco. National Bank outperformed among the banks while in late hours cements also did well and contributed positively to the market sentiment, he added. He said breach of the psychological barrier of 12,000 has encouraged investors and impelled them to take fresh positions.
"I feel the market players are also closely watching the news regarding contacts of the government with the PPP leadership and somehow, are welcoming the developments of a deal between the two sides." If the deal, as is being strongly anticipated, is finalised, it will have a positive impact on the capital the market, Irfan said.
According to him, oil sector, which has weightage in the index, is still in a position to lead the market while banks and cements seem overbought and could under go correction, he observed.
Moreover quarterly results of the companies could also boost the market and the result of Askari Bank has raised investors' hopes. The bank has declared Rs 2.40 earning per share for the said quarter, he concluded.
Out of 136 traded scrips, 35 were up, 29 landed in minus column while 72 stayed pegged to their overnight positions. Arif Habib Securities Ltd, rose by 7.75, PPL Rs 6.85, National Bank Rs 6.40, MCB Bank Rs 6.10 and Pakistan Oilfields Rs 4.55. In minus column, Engro Chemical lost Rs 1.50, UBL Rs 1.40, Sui Northern Rs 1.30, Javed Omer Vohra Rs 0.90 and Nishat (Chunian) Rs 0.45. Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 7.304 million shares followed by Bank Alfalah Rs 5.256 million shares.