Buying returns to bourse, KSE-100 up nearly 1,400 points

After days of selling pressure, buying returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 1,400 points during the first half of the trading session on Friday. At 12:03pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 176,926.74, up by 1,378.76 points or 0.79%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks, including ARL, HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, SSGC, HBL, MCB and MEBL, traded in the green.