KARACHI -  Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Wednesday showed modest recovery on institutional support in oversold scrips. The benchmark 100-share index gained 90.57 points.

Investors showed bullish sentiment for most part of the day in yesterday’s trading session as market gained to make an intra-day high of 325 points, however it closed at 41,323 points, brokers said.

Top 10 contributors to index points included NESTLE (up 4.6%), DGKC (5%), LUCK (1.8%), MLCF (5%), PAKT (5%), MTL (3.7%), ENGRO (1%), BAFL (3.4%), PAEL (4%) & THALL (3.5%) which added 221 points. HBL for the 3rd consecutive day closed at lower lock, eroding 143 points from the index level.

Interest was seen in cement sector followed by higher than expected provisional sales numbers for the month of August, said analyst at Topline Securities.

Sector-wise data showed that cement sector added 126 points whereas commercial banks eroded 94 points, respectively.  Positivity came from the cement sector on the back of improved provisional off-take numbers, where KOHC (up 4.83%), MLCF (5%), CHCC (4.12%) and DGKC (4.95%) were among the higher gainers, said analyst at JS Global.

Oil prices slid lower as ongoing disruptions from tropical storm Harvey continued. MARI (down 4.53%) and PPL (0.54%) were the major losers of the mentioned sector. HASCOL (up 0.17%) from the OMC sector declared its result for 1H2017, where the company posted an EPS of Rs6.45 and an interim dividend of Rs3.50/share.

Volume improved by 2% to 132m shares, as compared to 130m shares in the previous trading session. Whereas traded value was up 18% to Rs7.1b.

Scrips of total 358 active companies traded in the session of which 203 closed in green, 140 in red while 15 remained unchanged. TRG led the volume with a total of 20 million shares being exchanged. Brokers expect volatility to persist in the near future and recommend investors to sell on strength.