The Lahore Stock Exchange 25-index was ended up on a promising note with an increase of 231.28 points (4.85 percent) to 4998.01 points against 4766.73 of Thursday in the backdrop of successful conclusion of Pakistan's dialogue with IMF under which Pakistan will get loan of US $5.3 billion. However, the shares volume squeezed to 6.147 million shares compared with day earlier volume of 8.891 million shares, as investors remained cautious ahead of weekend.
According to market experts, the market positively responded to the deal between the IMF and Pakistan that paved the ground for US $5.3 billion loan. As a result, Habib Bank, United Bank, Allied Bank, National Bank and Bank of Punjab of the banking sector kept the market in bullish zone while Attock Refinery, PPL, Millat Tractors, Highnoon Laboratories, PTCL, NetSol Technologies, Nishat Mills and PIAC also helped market sentiments. Engro Corporation, DG Khan Cement, Flying Cement, Dewan Nishat Chunian, Maple Leaf Cement, Pervez Ahmed Securities, Farooq Motors, Pak Elektron and Dewan Salman Fibre remained under selling pressure.
The gainers were more than the losers, as out of a total of 101 active issues, 46 companies posted gains, 12 went down, while 43 companies stayed glued to their previous closing. Attock Refinery gained Rs 6.05, Habib Bank was improved by Rs 4.27, United Bank was appreciated by Rs 3.75, while Allied Bank and PPL were up by Rs 3.07 and Rs 2.95, respectively.
Engro Corporation lost Rs 3.03, DG Khan Cement shed 65-paisa, while Nishat Chunian and Maple Leaf Cement were down by 50-paisa and 18-paisa, respectively. NIB Bank topped the volume leaders with 992,000 shares while KESC stayed as runner up with 875,000 shares.