Bulls' onslaught continued for the second day on Friday on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) with the index gaining 120.91 points, or 2.73 percent, amid improved turnover. The LSE-25 Index rose to 4,545.71 points from Thursday's 4,424.80 points.
The volume surged to 31.102 million shares against 22.834 million, registering an increment of 8.267 million shares. Bulls maintained hold on the driving seats throughout the day, stock analysts said. Helped by heavyweights in the oil and gas sector and banks, the market performed well across the board and added fresh gains.
People might also witness good sessions next week, but profit-taking could emerge in overbought scrips, a broker said, adding that the market could turn volatile and small investors needed to be careful in deals. The banking and oil and gas sectors registered fresh gains under the lead of MCB Bank and JOVC.
Along with the upward movement in the index, there was also a visible improvement in trade volume, said Amer Hussain Khan of Invest & Finance Securities. Although gains were widespread yet oil companies' shares and banks were the prime movers providing strength to the index, he added.
For the next few sessions, he said, people should avoid picking big shares as they could fall prey to profit-taking. But, PSO and Shell seemed good in view of increase in the CNG price which would improve their profitability and their prices could touch Rs 550 and Rs 600 levels, respectively.
As for smaller shares, Fauji Fertilisers Bin Qasim, NIB Bank seem good and the could give good yields to buyers, Amer said. In all, 120 scrips changed hands, of which 49 improved, 17 landed in minus column while 54 stayed unchanged.
Major gainers were MCB bank, improving by Rs 14.95, Pakistan Oilfields Rs 13.70, Attock Refinery Rs 11.85, PSO Rs 10.65 and Engro Chemical Rs 9.50. In negative column, Adamjee Insurance shed Rs 3.60, JOVC Rs 3.05, Pakistan National Shipping, Rs 1.25, Fauji Fertiliser Rs 1.20 and Noon Sugar Mills Rs 1.05. Bosicor Pakistan and JOVC led the proceedings by volume with 3.143 million shares and 3.026 million shares.