LAHORE - Bulls continued control in the local bourse by taking the index up 551 points during the day trading but closed at 40,289 points, up by 231 points.

Overall volumes increased by 37 percent from the previous trading session, while in value terms the same increased by 34 percent. Thursday's major volume leaders were PIBTL (+7.2 percent), BOP (0 percent) and PAEL (-2.2 percent). Major contribution of +195 points came from HBL (+2.4 percent), MCB (+2.6 percent), PPL (+1.6 percent), LUCK (+2.1 percent), ENGRO (+0.9 percent) and UBL (+1.2 percent). This positivity came after the government announced the second supplementary budget, withdrawing critical taxes on capital markets, lifting the ban on purchase of vehicles by non-filers of income tax returns and facilitating industry, agriculture and SMEs.

Cement sector led the optimism, where major players closed in the green belt. MLCF (+3.2pc), LUCK (+2.1pc), FCCL (+1.5pc), CHCC (+1.4 percent) and DGKC (+2.3pc) were the major movers of the mentioned sector. Active participation was witnessed in the banking sector by the local and foreign investors where HBL (+2.4 percent), UBL (+1.2 percent), NBP (+1.5 percent) and MCB (+2.6 percent) all closed in the green zone.

Moving forward experts recommended investors to reduce short-term position on strength.