Bullish trend prevailed on the Lahore Stock Exchange for the second consecutive day on Tuesday and the equities extended gains following fresh buying in blue chips, including the oil sector scrips. The LSE-25 index further jumped by 106.27 points and closed at 3572.38 against 3466.11 of Monday.
While transaction volume also increased to 22.635 million shares compared with previous volume of 19.106 million shares. The oil sector helped market stay in the green zone despite the profit-taking that was seen during early hours of trading. Pak Oil Fields, PSO, PPL, Attock Refinery, OGDC, and Shell Pak appreciating their values closed in the positive zone. However, Fauji Fertiliser, Habib Bank, United Bank, Allied Bank, and Soneri Bank remained under pressure because of the profit-taking.
The market opened on a healthy note and kept on moving in the green zone during the entire Tuesday's trading. The investors preferred offloading their holdings to pocket the available margin. The profit-taking pushed the index down, but the buying on every dip kept the market movement in positive zone. Because of the rapid increase in shares values, most of the scrips were closed on upper caps, said Syed Muhammad Ishaq, chief operating officer, Abbasi & Company while commenting on the market sentiments.
The investors were optimistic that following resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, the coalition rulers would be able to evolve positive and concrete policies to put the country back on right track. If the top leadership of the main political parties succeed in developing consensus on the restoration of judges in a day or two, the coalition would further be strengthened and thus would be in a better position to serve the country, he added.
In presence of a President, supported by the coalition partners, there will be no chance of confrontation among the state institutions, which would give boost to the stocks business, he maintained.
However, if any difference appears on the judges' issues between the two major parties, the sentiments could be changed to put the market under pressure once again, he said, adding the investors should buy on every dip and get out of the market after profit-making. Of 101 trading issues, 38 companies closed higher, 22 recorded losses while values of 41 companies stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among gainers, Shell Pak improved by Rs 21.95, PSO gained Rs 14.10, MCB Bank appreciated by Rs 13.81, while Adamjee Insurance and Engro Chemical were up by Rs 10.69 and Rs 10.23, respectively.
In the minus column, Fauji Fertiliser Company lost Rs 4.50, Habib Bank declined by Rs 2.83, Service Industries shed Rs 2.32 while Allied Bank and Kot Addu Power were down by Rs 2.18 and Rs 1.58, respectively. NIB Bank with total trading of 4.361 million share topped the volume leaders followed by National Bank with 2.146 million shares.