Bullish sentiments dominated on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday and the equities registered gains across the board amid increased trading turnover following fresh buying on account of some encouraging news on the economic front.
The LSE-25 index jumped by 62.16 points and ended at 2125.76 against 2063.16 of Thursday while transaction volume improved by 9.745 million shares to 22.010 million shares as compared to 12.265 million shares traded a day earlier. Almost all the sectors including banking, oil, energy, fertiliser showed strength and supported the market.
The market opened on a positive sign and vertically moved up by 35 points in lest than half-hour. Following aggressive buying, the market kept on rising up and crossed 2125 level during first trading session. During the second session, the market depicted up and downward move but finally closed in the green zone.
According to the analysts, the US Congress has approved the bill for providing $1.5 billion financial aid to Pakistan, which was taken as an important and positive step on the part of American administration, which would help improve Pakistan's economy, said Syed Muhammad Ishaq of Abbasi and Company while commenting on the market trend.
Moreover, there was unconfirmed news that the government had indicated to exempt the stocks business from direct taxes in the upcoming budget, which, in analysts' view, would provide relief to the investors, he said. As a result, the investors kept on staying on buying course that not only pushed the index considerably up but also augmented the shares' volume, he added.
Besides, the investors were least bothered about the government decision to slash petroleum prices as the reduction in price was nominal and would not leave severe negative impact on the oil companies financial health, he maintained. The profit taking in next week could upset the sentiments but ultimately buying interest would support the market behaviour, he added.
The advancing stocks were ahead of declining ones as out of a total of 116 active issues, 59 companies showed strength, 5 went down while values of 52 companies stayed glued to their previous levels. Among gainers, Millat Tractors was improved by Rs 10.25, Shell Pak gained Rs 9.59, PSO was appreciated by Rs 9.01 while Pak Oil Fields and PPL were up by Rs 5.96 and Rs 5.93, respectively.
In the minus column, Royal Bank of Scotland lost 43-paisa, Sui Southern declined by 17-paisa while Orix Investment was down by four-paisa. Pakistan PTA with trading of 8.080 million shares was the market leader followed by NIB Bank with 1.911 million shares.