KARACHI: Shares clinched strong gains on Tuesday with KSE-100 index up by 313.07 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 29,191.84. Investors heaved a sign of relief as stocks rebound after correction of 600 points in the previous three sessions.

The return of foreign fund managers after the Easter holidays, saw resumption of overseas portfolio inflow, which on Tuesday amounted to $2.51m, with oil and gas and Banking sectors claiming the major portion of investment of $1.4m, each. Among local participants, companies fattened their portfolio with purchases of $4.03m.

Market saw investors regain interest in equities with the volumes up by 18pc to 191m shares on Tuesday compared to dismal turnover at 163m shares the day earlier. Activity was mainly concentrated in mid-tier stocks, though trading value also surged 30pc to Rs9.430bn.

Several largely followed companies announced first quarter and nine months 2014 results on Tuesday. They included MCB Bank; Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim and PTCL. Improved earnings of MCB Bank and HMB attracted investors’ interest in those stocks. As banks came in for heavy buying, UBL also closed at its ‘upper circuit’.

Engro remained in red (down 0.6pc) with gas uncertainty rumours pushing the stock price down. Maple Leaf led the volume leaders list with 19m shares.

Analyst Ahasn Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp commented that stocks showed strong recovery in the quarter end earning announcement session on renewed foreign interest on strong valuations.

Healthy earnings announcement by MCB Bank, speculations ahead of major earnings announcements in banking and oil stocks due this week and easing concerns on volatile rupee parity encouraged investors, despite pressure in textile stocks on account of losses on rupee appreciation.