Bullish sentiments continued to prevail for the third consecutive day on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday where equities maintained upward slides registered gains amid increased trading turnover. The LSE-25 index was increased to 3269.62 points against 3229.62 points of Tuesday, denoting an improvement of 40 points, while transaction volume was also improved to 4.976 million shares, as compared to last day volume of 2.710 million shares.
The market opened on a positive sign and kept on rising almost throughout the day. As a result of investors' interest in blue chips including PSO, Attock Refinery, Pakistan Oil Fields, PPL, Byco Petroleum of oil sector and Bank of Punjab, National Bank, and Bank Alfalah of banking sector kept the market in green zone. Engro Corporation, Treet Corporation, Nishat Chunian, Dewan Salman Fibre and Arif Habib Corporation also performed well. However, Fauji Fertiliser and Japan Power remained under selling pressure.
The gainers were far ahead of the losers, as out of a total of 114 traded companies, 53 posted gains, 5 registered declines, while values of 56 companies remained unchanged at their previous closing. Shell Pakistan gained Rs 8.00, First Capital Equities was improved by Rs 6.35, PSO was appreciated by Rs 2.72, while Engro Corporation, Attock Refinery and Allied Bank were up by Rs 1.51, Rs 1.46 and Rs 1.42, respectively.
In the negative column, Hub Power lost 45-paisa, while Japan Power and Fauji Fertiliser were marginally declined by 9-paisa and 4-paisa, respectively. Bank of Punjab was the market leader whose 1.919 million shares changed hands followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with trading of 447,447 shares.