Optimism gripped the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday and the KSE-100 Index inched up 0.38% amid low investor participation.
Lack of progress on resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme kept investors on the sidelines.
By the end of the day, the KSE-100 Index settled with an increase of 152.48 points or 0.38% to close at 40,000.83 points.
Trading began with a jump but the market began declining and hit intra-day low by noon. At this point, the KSE-100 Index saw renewed buying activity that helped it close in the green.
Index-heavy cement, chemical, banking and oil spaces closed with modest gains while automobile sector closed in the red. On the other hand, fertiliser sector ended the day on a mixed note.
A report from Capital Stake stated that investors of the PSX witnessed a tug-of-war between bulls and bears on Friday, where the former turned out as winners. Indices swayed in both directions while volumes surged from last close, it added.
Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 Index north included banking (39.41 points), cement (28.12 points) and fertiliser (19.86 points).
Volume on the all-share index rose to 112.2 million from 88.7 million on Thursday while the value of shares traded inched down to Rs3.93 billion from Rs3.98 billion recorded in the previous session.
Pakistan International Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 12.12 million shares followed by Pak Elektron with 6.52 million shares and Hascol with 4.87 million shares.
Shares of 294 companies were traded on Friday, of which 155 registered an increase, 110 recorded a fall and 29 remained unchanged.
