The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) carried forward the bullish momentum gained during the previous two sessions on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 512.39 points (+1.08 percent) to cross the psychological level of 48,000 points and closing at 48,112.21 points. The market opened on a positive note and remained positive throughout the session as investors’ sentiments remained upbeat. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 545 points, showing an intraday high of 48,112.21 points and an intraday low of 47,599.8 points (last day closing level). Overall, the index has gained over 1,150 points in the last three sessions. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 351.37 points (+1.08 percent) to close at 32,816.59 points, while All Share Islamic Index gained 359.62 points (+1.54 percent) to close at 23,690.32 points. A total of 405 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 269 closed up, shares of 119 closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. Of the 100 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 67 closed up, 31 closed down, while two remained unchanged. The overall market volumes increased by 98.56 million to 397.70 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 147.54 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 30,207 to 149,327; and the value traded increased by Rs1.79 billion to Rs14.86 billion. Likewise, the market capitalisation increased by Rs89.93 billion. Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 35.38 million shares, followed by BOP (22.28 million) and GGL (19.88 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, BOP, GGL, TPLP and ANL, which formed 29 percent of total volumes. The sectors propping up the index were commercial banks with 175 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 140 points, fertilizer with 40 points, miscellaneous with 36 points and oil & gas marketing companies with 34 points. The most points added to the index were by MEBL which contributed 92 points followed by PPL with 57 points, OGDC with 45 points, ENGRO with 41 points and PSEL with 34 points. Sector wise, the index was let down by power generation & distribution with 20 points, chemical with 7 points, transport with 4 points, close–end mutual fund with 3 points and textile spinning with 2 points. The most points taken off the index were by HUBC which stripped the index of 21 points followed by COLG with 10 points, MLCF with 9 points, EFERT with 7 points and FCCL with 4 points. According to experts, the investors’ interest was revived in the cement sector after market expectations of softer coal prices helped the sector close up 0.66 percent while higher international oil prices drove local oil stocks, with OGDC and PPL cumulatively adding 102 points to the benchmark index. They said that expectation of US $2.7 billion receipt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) further buoyed sentiment at the bourse.