Share prices extended their overnight gains and finished 1.05 percent higher on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Thursday since local buyers thronged the market, despite outflow of SCRA. The LSE-25 Index, with a net gain of 49.46 points, reached 4,745.35, compared with Wednesday's 4,695.89 points.
Volume also improved to 18.929 million shares from 15.679 million, registering an increment of 3.250 million. Supported by the insurance sector, banks, securities stocks and exploration sector, the market traded higher throughout the day with Adamjee Insurance and MCB Bank being the first choice of investors.
Analysts said the main support came from the local institutions, who opted for new entries, particularly in oil & energy, key banks and insurance sector, helping the Index gain strength.
According to brokers, apparently, the emerging political scene was supportive to the market and the oath-taking of the new prime minister and his order to release judges boosted investors confidence had encouraged them to take bold decisions.
Amer Hussain Khan of Invest and Finance Securities Limited said the market now had started behaving well and major role in the smooth trading was being played by the local investors. The most encouraging aspect of this state of affairs was that the local investors' interest was gradually increasing despite the fact the SCRA outflow was continuing, he added. He said on Thursday the bulk of buying activity was witnessed in the oil sector following new discoveries and the entire insurance sector. In refineries, Parco and in cements, DG Khan Cement and Lucky Cement were likely to be most attractive scrips for buying, he added.
As far as the future of the market is concerned, in the near-term it seems good and the people might witness smooth trading in the coming few sessions. However, he pointed out that any disturbance in the political arena could change the sentiment. "The current levels are attractive for buying and people should think for fresh deals in good scrips, including the oil and insurance sectors and small banks," he observed.
In all, 121 scrips changed hands, of which 33 went up, 27 scaled down while 61 were unchanged to their overnight levels. Among key gainers, Adamjee Insurance was up Rs 19.85, MCB Bank Rs 16.20, Arif Habib Securities Rs 4.85, Ghani Glass Rs 4.30, and Pervez Ahmed Securities Rs 2.95.
In negative column, PSO was down by Rs 6.50, Shell Gas LPG (Pak) Rs 6.20, Pakistan Oilfields Rs 4.95, First Capital Equities Rs 4.15 and ICI Pakistan Rs 3.50. Arif Habib Securities and Bank of Punjab were the volume leaders with 2.882 million and 1.937 million shares, respectively.