Charged by fresh buying interest in key scrips, Lahore share market flared up amid growing turnover and remarkable improvement of 3.37 percent in the bench mark index on Monday.
After taking a bullish start, the market moved in positive zone throughout the day with key banks, exploration companies scrips, insurance sector, securities shares and select cements delivering extremely well.
Analysts said that the market showed a frenzied movement on the back of renewed interest in all prime shares, which took the LSE-25 index upwards. At close of the market, the index rose to 4,737.26 points compared from previous closing at 4,582.48, surging by 154.78 points. Volume escalated to 34.893 million shares from 14.335 million, showing an improvement of 20.558 million shares.
Brokers said the market showed across the board movement and gains were widespread. According to them, the Supreme Court decision in Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Imran Kahn's case removed the legal hurdles in the way of Musharraf being elected for the second term. This development was very significant, which sent positive signals to the market, he stated.
"If all goes in favour of General Musharraf and the process of presidential election is completed smoothly without any political disturbance, the market will be moving ahead comfortably. "I think with the judgement of the SC regarding maintainability of the petitions filed by Qazi and Imran, there remains no legal hurdle in the way for Musharraf being re-elected as president, Mirza Muhammad Irfan of Capital Vision Securities said.
"It has provided a sense of relief to the market people and they appear comfortable in taking fresh positions," he added. The KSE, which observed maximum rise of the current calendar year today, seemed moving towards 17,000 points mark. Interest was seen in the boarder market with a number scrips, including MCB, NBP, BoP, NIB Bank and Pervez Ahmed Securities closing at their upper cap limits, Irfan said.
Lucky Cement also fared well touching its higher circuit breaker. "When we compare our market with other regional markets, there still seems a lot of potential in it for further improvement," he viewed. Out of a total of 119 traded scrips, 66 were up, three down while 50 stayed stable.
Among key gainers, MCB Bank gained Rs 16.65, Pakistan Oilfields Rs 13.80 and National Bank Rs 12.20. In negative zone, Kohinoor Energy and Pace Pakistan shed Rs 0.50 each and Nimir Resins Ltd Rs 0.45. Bank Alfalah was the volume leader with 4.417 million shares, followed by DG Khan Cement with 2.529 million shares.