KARACHI - Led by cement and auto sectors, Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) staged strong recovery on weekend amid thin trade.
Market remained positive throughout the day. The benchmark 100-share index rallied by 442 points and closed at 41,401 points, dealers said.
Bullish momentum returned as HBL (up 5%) opened at its upper circuit on the back of a huge decline in the final penalty imposed by DFS on the ban, where the bank has agreed to pay $225m instead of a potential amount of up to $630m considered earlier, said analyst at JS Global.
Refinery stocks outshined the market as ATRL (up 4.68%), NRL (3.95%), PRL (4.51%) and BYCO (2.57%) gained relatively higher than the benchmark index. OMC sector also contributed positively to the KSE-100 where PSO (up 2.52%) and SHEL (2.68%) were the major gainers from the sector.
Cement sector also witnessed bullish momentum with LUCK (up 3.68%), DGKC (2.36%), FCCL (0.37%), CHCC (up 2.16%) cumulatively contributing 80 points to the index.
Volume remained low at 141 million shares, where traded value stood at Rs8.4b/$80m.
TRG continued to lead the market volumes with 18 million shares being traded.
Scrips of total 388 active companies participated in the session of which 263 closed in advance, 103 in decline while 22 remained unchanged.
Market participants expect positivity to continue for the coming week and recommend investors to book profits on strength.