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LSE maintains upward trend

Recorder Report

Lahore: Equities maintained the upward thrust at the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) here on Friday, the last clearing day, under the lead of speculative chips, which consolidated their gains and ended on higher levels.

The LSE 101-share index rose up by 12.25 points and closed at 462.25 points as against 450.00 points of the last day. The trade volume increased to 130.637 million shares as compared to 64.693 million shares a day earlier, showing a rise of 13.575 million shares.

The market opened on a positive note and continued to trade in the plus column till the close. Investors covered their positions at the overnight higher levels for the new settlement period. The market, however, resisted every downward thrust and selling pressure from the weak holders. Leading shares came in for the leading support at the still attractive higher level.

Market analysts said the bull-run was not confined to any particular sector, but was equally prevalent in all fields. They termed across the board surge in equity values a good omen for the market. At the final bell, the number of advances was more than the declines.

Currently, the market is gradually consolidating its position and moving up on technical grounds, said market analyst Wasim Butt of Trust Securities. He said that the day's across the board upsurge implies that the market has strength to move further up and the bullish run is likely to continue on Monday. However, as the market has been continuously showing bullish signs during the week, a downward technical correction may not be ruled out next week, he observed.

Out of a total of 172 scrips 72 scored gains, 27 landed in the negative column, while 73 did not change their overnight positions.

Among the major gainers, Adamjee Insurance was up by Rs 9.50, PSO Rs 7.50, Pak Oil Fields Rs 4.40, Pakistan Synthetics Rs 3.95 First Capital Security Corporation Rs 3.25, Kohinoor Weaving Mills Rs 2.45, Nishat Mills Rs 2.40 and Sui Southern Rs 2.00.

On the other hand, Tri-Pack Films led the major losers. It lost its value by Rs 1.80, Kohinoor Raiwind Mills 75 paisa, Sui Northern and Dewan Salman 50 paisa each.

PTCL was the leader of the market with a total traded volume of 42,791 million shares followed by Sui Northern and FFC-Jordan Fertilizer with 6.175 and 5.057 million shares, respectively.