KARACHI - Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday retreated from its previous day activity as investors weigh Rs180 billion PM exports package. The index rallied around 506 points or (up 1.04%) to close at 49,372 points.

Banking sector led the gains in the market, as the sector gained to close (up 1.3%) higher than its previous day close. MCB (gains 3.59%) and UBL (2.02%) were major index movers from the aforementioned sector. Investors’ interest was seen in the automobile sector on the back of sales numbers released by PAMA for the month of December 2016. INDU (rose 3.51%) and HCAR (1.83%) were top performers of the aforementioned sector.

Textile sector extended its gain on the back of Rs180 billion package for export oriented sectors announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday. Textile sector was the main beneficiary of the export package. Notable incentives announced for textile sector are removal of import duty on cotton import and on import of machinery, in addition to rebate on export of value added products, observed analyst Nabeel Haroon.

HUBC announced it has decided to exercise its option to increase its shareholding in China Power Hub Power Generation company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Hub Power holdings Ltd from 26 percent to 47.5 percent. This led the stock price to gain by 2.5 percent. EFERT announced in a notice through PSX that ECC has directed additional available gas up to 26mmcfd from Mari Petroleum’s Company to the company’s old plant for continuous operation of the plant.

This resultantly led the stock price to gain by 1.8 percent, said dealers at Topline brokerage. Overall, volumes increased by 11.3 percent to 460 million shares, while traded value increased by 23.8 percent to Rs24.9 billion/ $238 million.