KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange kept its upward rally till midday and gained 218 points to take the tally to 43845 level on Monday.
The stocks started new week on positive note after adding 212 points to reach 43839 level in early trading.
Last week, a roller coaster ride was witnessed as the benchmark KSE-100 index ultimately closed 0.4 percent WoW lower at 43,627.
Sectors such as Cements (down 3.9 percent WoW on weak profitability forecasts for the quarter amidst weak retention prices), Pharmaceuticals (down 4.1 percent WoW on expectations of weak results after recent depreciation of PKR against the greenback), OMCs (down 2.9 percent WoW on profit taking) and Autos (down 1.3 percent WoW on resumption of old rules for imported cars) witnessed heavy pummelling.
Overall trading activity also took a hit with avg. traded volume (down 19 percent WoW to 199m shares/day) and trade value (down 24 percent WoW to US$66mn/day) suffering from market developments. Foreigners were net sellers of $16.1mn worth of shares during the week vs. selling of $8.5mn during last week. On the local front, Insurance were net buyers of $16.8mn whereas Individuals were net sellers of $6.5 million.