Stocks extend overnight rally.

KARACHI -- Share prices went up on Monday as investors expected the signing of a staff-level agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Arif Habib Ltd said the representative index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange shot up to an intraday high of 497.9 points after the finance minister hinted at the conclusion of the agreement on either Monday or Tuesday.

Investors remained optimistic throughout the trading session while healthy volumes were witnessed across the mainboard stocks with companies belonging to the exploration and production sector hogging the spotlight.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,856.85 points, up 62.98 points or 0.15 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 6.1pc to 289.3 million shares. The traded value went up 51.2pc to $36.5m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hascol PetrAoleum Ltd (42.4m shares), Telecard Ltd (25.8m shaAres), Oil and Gas DevelAopment Company Ltd (18.4m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (16.5m shares) and TPL Properties Ltd (12.5m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index...