KARACHI - Volatility prevailed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Tuesday 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. Cement sector contributed negatively to the index where CHCC (down 3.03%), FCCL (0.88%) and DGKC (1.59%) were among the major losers from the sector, said analyst Maaz Mulla at JS Global.

Habib Bank (HBL) rose to its upper limit to close at Rs177/sh with 2.7m shares traded in the ready market, & there were no off-market deals yesterday. While the last set of deals were executed below Rs180/sh; its safe to say the rally is over, stated analyst at Topline Securities.

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.

On the sector front, banks added 181 points (HBL 123 points), food 44 points & power 16 points; while cements eroded 38 points, pharma 27 points, tobacco 16 points & engineering 10 points.

Though turnover ticked up 5% d/d it still remained sub 100m level, traded value on the other hand declined 3% at Rs5.4b/$51.3m.

Shares of total 371 active companies traded in the session of which 155 concluded in advance, 202 in decline while 14 remained unchanged.