LAHORE  -   It was a tale of two halves for the benchmark 100-share index of Pakistan Stock Exchange, where for the first half investors preferred to remain on the sidelines as they waited for verdict of the accountability court on Flagship and Al-Azizia Mills references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The index hit a low of 37,934, where it lost 317 points. Towards the end of the session, the accountability court convicted Nawaz Sharif and sentenced him to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia case while exonerated him in Flagship case. Investors took this decision in a positive light as the index recovered to close at 38,309, gaining 58 points (or +0.15 percent), to close in the green for the 3rd consecutive session in a row.

FATIMA dominated investors interest generating 10m in traded shares, followed by KEL which generated 6mn in traded volumes.

Out of the 323 shares traded, 161 declined, 132 progressed and 30 remained unchanged. Investor participation regressed severely as traded volumes declined by 43 percent to 75m, while traded value fell by 50 percent to $24m.