The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish for the fourth day in a row, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 179.87 points (+0.4 percent) to close at 44,596.07 points on Friday. The market opened on a negative note; however, this negativity was due to the pre-opening trading and then the market remained positive throughout the session. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 339.22 points, showing an intraday high of 44,646.49 points and a low of 44,307.27 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 251.41 points (+0.82 percent) to close at 30,726.52 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 125.43 points (+0.57 percent) to close at 22,026.72 points. A total of 374 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 220 closed up, shares of 137 closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. Out of 95 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 66 closed up, 26 closed down and three remained unchanged. The overall market volumes increased by 74.56 million to 317.65 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 32.45 million to 153.76 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 7,863 to 114,922, while the value traded increased by Rs0.49 billion to Rs10.83 billion. Overall market capitalisation increased by Rs62.86 billion. Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 41.97 million shares, followed by CNERGY (39.83 million) and TRG (20.43 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, CNERGY, TRG, PRL, and KEL, which formed around 43 percent of total volumes. The major sectors taking the index towards north were oil & gas exploration companies with 73 points, commercial banks with 64 points, fertilizer with 50 points, cement with 36 points, and food & personal care products with 23 points. The most points added to the index were by HBL which contributed 31 points followed by FFC with 30 points, POL with 24 points, MCB with 22 points and OGDC with 20 points. The major sectors taking the index toward south were technology & communication with 96 points, investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies with 15 points, textile composite with 5 points, automobile parts & accessories with 2 points and automobile assembler with one point. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 80 points followed by MEBL with 24 points, SYS with 15 points, DAWH with 10 points and AVN with 6 points. According to experts, the investors cheered the government’s determination to meet pre-conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for resumption of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) as the Finance (Supplementary) Bill was approved by the federal cabinet on Thursday. Moreover, appreciation of Pakistani rupee for the second consecutive day against the US dollar contributed towards investors’ positive sentiments. However, the mini-budget and depleting foreign exchange reserves halted the excitement level at the bourse, they added.