Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extend its gains on Thursday from the previous session, as benchmark kse-100 index rose 329.07 points before the closing bell to clock at 43,416.77 level. Strong bullish sentiments were witnessed throughout the session on the last trading day of the week, as the trading week was cut short due to official holiday on Friday, December 25th. The value hunting was witnessed across the board, as investors cherry picked over sold stocks despite still pending open positions on the last day of the Roll over week. During the week, the index witnessed mixed performance, as the week started on a negative note with the market losing 406 points on Monday on account of concerns over the detection of the new strain of coronavirus in European countries causing travel shutdowns. Following the news, crude oil declined by over 3%, while the Dow Jones index at Wall Street also fell by 0.7%. Moreover, the market also remained jittery due to the rollover of high open interest during the week. However, encouraging external account position and the news of the potential resumption of the IMF program improved the investor sentiment. Sentiments were primarily buoyed by upbeat trade data released by State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan’s current account recorded a surplus for the fifth consecutive month in November at $447 million as compared to a deficit of $326 million during the same time last year, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Tuesday. “In contrast to the previous five years, the current account has been in surplus throughout FY21 due to an improved trade balance and a sustained increase in remittances,” the central bank said on Twitter. Investor sentiments were also buoyed by upbeat fertilizer data after total nutrient offtake during the month of November 2020 was recorded at 542 thousand tonnes, showing an increase of 13.9 percent as against November 2019. Nitrogen offtake was 346 thousand tonnes which increased by 28.2 percent while phosphate offtake was 191 thousand tonnes which decreased by 5.3 percent. Potash offtake increased by 23 per cent as compared to November 2019. Total production of all fertilizer products during November 2020 was 765 thousand tonnes. Out of this urea production was 515 thousand tonnes. Other fertilizer products were: DAP 77, Nitrophos 89, CAN 71, SSP 9.5, SOP 0.9 and different grades of NPK 2 thousand tonnes. Total imported supplies were about 164 thousand tonnes comprising 143 thousand tonnes of DAP, 0.4 thousand tonnes of SOP, 1.5 thousand tonne of MOP, 19 thousand tonnes of AS and 0.1 thousand tonnes MAP during November 2020. The recovery at the index was also witnessed due to recovery in international crude oil prices, as well as renewed buying activity in the cement sector. Besides cement, investors also opted for banks, oil & gas marketing, exploration & production sectors, thus helping the index stage a recovery. During the week, Investor participation remained dull as average volumes decline by 34% in comparison to previous week to 203 million shares, while the average traded value also contracted to $75 million registering a drop of 21% in the previous month. Foreign investors continued to offload positions as the net sell clocked-in at $20.4 million. This selling was mainly absorbed by local companies and brokers with the inflows of $25.6 million and $1.2 million respectively. Sectors which lifted the index during the week were Autos by 10%, Cements by 2.9% and Chemicals by 2.2%. However, sectors which dented the index during the week were Textiles by 1.6% and Tech. & Communications by 1.4%.