KARACHI - Stocks continued to make gains amidst tight volumes with PSX shares index gaining 307 points (0.64%) to breach the 48,000 points barrier and close at 48,250.07 level.

Concerns for falling remittances data for July-March 2017 and falling exports invited mid-session pressure. The prime minister’s orders on CCoE to resolve over Rs350 billion circular debt, rising banking spreads and higher global crude prices played a catalyst role in bullish close, said analyst Ahsan Mehanti.

The E&P sector continued its bullish momentum as sector extended its gain by 0.66 percent. Support to crude oil price came from the news that Russia intends to start consultations with its oil producers regarding the possibility of extending its output cut deal with OPEC. POL (gain 3.03pc) and PPL (0.62pc) were major index movers of the E&P sector. Apart from the E&P sector major contribution to the index came from the Banking sector as it gained to close (up 0.82pc) higher than its previous day close. HBL (higher 2.24pc) and UBL (0.45pc) were major index movers from the aforementioned sector, stated analyst at JS Global.

Auto assemblers PSMC (gain 4.3pc) & INDU (1.5pc) gained on the back of early reports suggesting strong volumetric growth. ASTL (Rs96.78, +0.8pc) continued to summit new peaks, hitting an all-time intraday high of Rs100, & finishing off the session with another record-high on closing basis, market participants said.

Market participation ticked-up from yesterday’s lows with volume increasing 12 percent to 147 million shares, however traded value stagnated (-0.3pc) at Rs7.6 billion/$73 million. Volumes were led by Azgard Nine with 14.8 million shares traded, Dewan Cement with 14.13 million shares traded and TRG Pak Ltd with 12.7 million shares traded remained in spotlight in the market.