Stocks bullish, gaining 522 points.

KARACHI -- The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday gained further momentum in the early trade hours as investor participation has been observed very high amid presence of market moving triggers. The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 522 points and hit 35,881 points. During the previous week, traders, initially, were in a state of uncertainty and a bit of nervousness as the JUI-F-led anti-government protest march moved towards Islamabad with politicians agitating the participating crowd. But later, the market had managed to calm down and the index had bounced back as heavy buying erupted in the current favourites, cement, oil marketing companies and blue-chip stocks in selected sectors. The volume, on Friday, decreased 14.6 per cent to 157.1m shares, from 184.0m while traded value declined 6pc to $41.5m, as against $44.1m.

Two weeks ago, the stock market had remained lacklustre following the formal...