The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the week on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 234 points, or 0.52 per cent, by the close of trading to reach 45,294.

The market lost points in the first half of the session to touch the day's low at 44,548 points. Thereafter, it made a stuttering recovery to reach a day's high at 45,382 points before settling lower.

The majority of investors preferred to remain on the sidelines amidst rising political uncertainty, said a JS Global report. It noted that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is expected to announce its monetary policy on Saturday.

Senior analyst Ahsan Mehnati said the government's stance that it would accept the Supreme Court's decision on the Panamagate case motivated buyers.

He was also of the view that positive speculations in connection with financial results helped the benchmark index land in the green.

Nearly 57 million shares of indexed companies, worth Rs5.2 billion, changed hands during the day.

The technology and communication sector led the day's trading with 16.6m shares traded, while engineering and textile followed with 13.9m and 11.4m shares traded, respectively.

Stocks of 350 companies in all were traded, of which 204 gained in value, 128 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

TRG Pak Ltd: 12.5m shares traded [+4.77pc];

Dewan Motors: 8.4m shares traded [+3.81pc];

Azgard Nine: 6.3m shares traded [+5.56pc];

Engro Polymer: 5.8m shares traded [+2.92pc]; and,

Aisha Steel Mill: 5.4m shares traded [+1.34pc].