Equities on Friday extended gains amid bullish sentiments on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) following fresh buying in banking and oil sectors shares. The LSE-25 index was increased by 24.40 points and was ended at 3345.37 against 3320.97 points of Thursday, while transaction volume restricted to 1.843 million shares, as compared to 3.014 million shares traded a day earlier.
The market opened on a healthy sign and kept on rising during the first trading session. The market also witnessed upward slide during the second session, as investors stayed on buying course and made entries in oil and banking sectors, while blue chips also helped improve market sentiments.
Buying in Pakistan Oil Fields, PPL, PSO, OGDC, MCB Bank, Habib Bank, Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, Askari Bank, and National Bank kept the market in positive zone, while Lucky Cement, Engro Corporation, Lotte Pakistan PTA and Pace Pakistan also performed well.
However, Dawood Hercules Chemical, D.G. Khan Cement, Adamjee Insurance, Pakistan Reinsurance, NetSol Technologies, Javed Omer and Vohra remained under selling pressure and were ended in minus column. The advancing stocks were ahead of declining ones, as out of a total of 110 active issues, 40 companies registered gains, 17 posted losses, while 53 companies stayed glued to their previous levels.
Among gainers, Pakistan Oil Fields was improved by Rs 8.54, PPL was appreciated by Rs 3.86, MCB Bank gained Rs 3.07, while ICI Pakistan and Habib Bank were up by Rs 2.60 and Rs 2.50, respectively. In the minus column, Service Industries lost Rs 8.29, Dawood Hercules Chemical was declined by Rs 1.79, while Dewan Cement and United Bank were down by 99-paisa and 50-paisa, respectively. Bank Alfalah was the market leader whose 281,680 shares changed hands followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 206,375 shares.