KARACHI - Stocks showed recovery amid late session support in oil, cement and banking scrips on strong valuations, resultantly the benchmark shares index rallied around 86 points.

Volatility prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intraday high of 174 points and an intraday low of 273 points to finally close at 49,015 level, brokers said. Banking sector extended its previous day gains as it gained to close (0.4%) higher. HBL (up 0.35%), MCB (0.52%) and UBL (0.73%) were among the major index movers from the aforementioned sector.

Selling pressure was witnessed in the fertiliser sector as it lost value to close (0.5%) lower than its previous day close. FFC (decline 0.55%) and FFBL (1.40%) were among the major losers of the fertiliser sector. ASL in the steel sector gained to close 4.28 percent on the back investor anticipation that court will maintain antidumping duty status imposed by NTC on dumped imports of cold rolled coils and galvanised steel being imported from China in its hearing tomorrow. KAPCO (higher 0.17%) in power sector gained as the company declared its 1HFY17 result, in which it posted EPS of Rs4.74/share along with first interim dividend of Rs4.30/share. OGDC (rose 1.40%), POL (1.50%) and PPL (0.33%) in the E&P sector gained to close in the green zone as crude oil prices surged to trade around $54/bbl level, observed analyst at major brokerage. Consolidation in the futures contracts rollover week invited mid-session pressure. Institutional interest remained in oil stocks on surging global crude prices. Record earnings in cement, banking and auto sector played a catalyst role in higher close, market participants said. Overall, volumes remained flat at 343 million shares, while value declined by 5 percent to Rs13.9 billion/$132 million.