Led by oil sector, equities extended further gains amid bullish sentiments on the Lahore Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The LSE-25 index gained 43.80 points to close at 5188.42 against 5144.62 of Tuesday while transaction volume was restricted to 5.180 million shares compared with last day volume of 5.744 million shares.
The market was opened on a healthy note and stayed in positive zone throughout the day. However, volatile situation that continued during the day's trading resulted in slight decrease in trading volume. Buying in oil sector companies like Attock Refinery, PSO, National Refinery and PPL helped market sentiments while Lucky Cement, Glaxo Smith Kline, Highnoon Laboratories, Habib Bank, National Bank and MCB Bank also performed well. On the contrary, Engro Corporation, Fauji Fertilizer, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, National Foods, Engro Foods, Askari Bank, Bank of Punjab, PTCL, Nishat Power and Pakgen Power remained under pressure.
The gainers were marginally more than the losers. Of 101 active companies, 32 ended in positive column, 28 registered declines, while 41 companies remained unchanged at their day earlier closing. Attock Refinery gained Rs 11.88, Lucky Cement appreciated by Rs 6.21, PSO improved by Rs 6.00 while Glaxo Kline Smith and Highnoon Laboratories were up by Rs 4.63 and Rs 3.57, respectively.
In the minus column, Engro Corporation lost Rs 8.18, National Foods was declined by Rs 4.00 while Fauji Fertilizer and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim were down by Rs 3.47 and Rs 2.24, respectively. Bank of Punjab was the market leader whose 2.187 million shares changed hands followed by Lafarge Pakistan Cement with 587,000 shares.