Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)continued its bullish momentum on Wednesday, as the equity markets witnessed another day of heavy investor participation as volumes remained above 800 million shares for the second consecutive trading day. By the session-end, the benchmark kse-100 index breached 46,000 mark, and closed at 46,091.96 index level after gaining 169.92 points. Thebuying activity was witnessed across the board, as investors geared up in anticipation of annual financial results. During the session major moves were recorded in blue-chip stocks, especially in banking, technology, cement and textile scrips. Market cheered the manufacturing data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), which showed Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) in Pakistan grew by 14.5 percent in November 2020 as compared to the same month in 2019. As per the data, the overall output of LSM index increased by 7.41 per cent during the five months (July-November) of 2020-21 (FY21) compared to July-November 2019-20. The growth during the five month period was primarily accredited to various sectors, including Textile, Food, Beverages & Tobacco, Coke & Petroleum Products, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Non Metallic Mineral Products, Automobiles, Fertilisers, and Paper & Paperboard. Investors also remained upbeat about State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir’s comments earlier this week, whoclaimed that Pakistan is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to put the fiscal support programme back on track, adding that he was optimistic about the economic outlook despite the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The governor said “We hope to have good news for the market and the world that we are putting the programme back on track,” the country’s central bank governor said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Monday.Pakistan and the IMF have been working to implement IMF-supported economic reforms, in particular tax collection, aimed at stabilising the economy and shoring up a yawning fiscal deficit. Though the bailout program is still pending, Pakistan received $1.4 billion in emergency financing from the IMF to allow it to fund targeted and temporary spending increases aimed at containing the pandemic and mitigating its economic impact. The volume at Kse-100 slightly reduced from 506.7 million shares recorded in the previous session, to 466.266 million shares, while the all-share volumecontinued to increase, and surgedfrom 825.89million shares in the previous session to 845.28million shares. The volume chart was led by K-Electric Limited, akistan International Bulk Terminal Limited and Power Cement Limited. The scrips exchanged 110.62 million, 79.64 million and 45.13 million shares, respectively. According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited foreign investors’ offloaded $4.615shares. However, local investors were the net buyers during the session, with buying table being led by Individuals with $4.6 million worth of equities followed by Mutual Funds and Banks with $3.07 million and $1.61 million worth of equities. However, Brokers and Companies led the selling chart with $2.5 million and $1.04 million worth of equities. Sectors that lifted the index were Technology & Communication with 76 points, Cement with 72 points, Textile Composite with 48 points, Commercial Banks with 42 points and Engineering with 23 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Systems Limited which contributed 48 points followed by TRG Pakistan Limited with 27 points, Pioneer Cement Limited with 20 points, HabibBank Limited with 20 points andInternational Industries Limitedwith 19 points. However, Sector’s that continued to add pressure to the index were Power Generation & Distribution with 21 points, Chemical with 17 points, Tobacco with 17 points, Automobile Assembler with 16 points and Glass & Ceramics with 13 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by United Bank Limited which stripped the index of 24 points followed by Pakistan Tobacco Company Limitedwith 17 points, Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 15 points, Millat Tractors Limited with 15 points and K-Electric Limited with 15 points.