KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its upward rally and gained huge 616.76 points to take the tally to 41896 points level till midday on Wednesday.
Earlier, the stocks made recovery in start of the trading day as benchmark 100-index added 322 points to reach 41601 points level.
On Tuesday, volatility prevailed in the PSX as the 100-share index remained range-bound. The index, after trading between low of 102 points and high of 284 points, closed at 41,279 points, gaining 152 points.
Banking sector led the gains as HBL (up 5%) closed at its upper circuit and NBP (2.02%) and MCB (2.43%) gained to close positive. Fertilizer sector stocks also recorded gains, where FFC (up 0.18%), FFBL (0.93%) and EFERT (0.65%) closed in the green zone from the fertilizer sector.
Top 5 index point contributors were HBL (up 5%), NESTLE (4.4%), MCB (2.4%), OGDC (0.8%) & NBP (2%), adding 233 points; while SEARL (down 4 3%) PAKT (4 3%) DGKC (1 6%) FATIMA (4.4%) & SHFA (5%) held back 67 points.
Shares of total 371 active companies traded in the session of which 155 concluded in advance, 202 in decline while 14 remained unchanged. Though turnover ticked up 5% d/d it still remained sub 100m level, traded value on the other hand declined 3% at Rs5.4b.