The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recovered on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 836 points to climb back over the 40,000-mark.

The index continued on an upward surge after opening higher, managing to hit a day's high of 40,559 points towards the day's close.

Topline Securities in an analyst note attributed the upswing to value hunters "who sensed that the market has been pulled down to bargain levels, which warrants buying."

The brokerage said investor sentiment seemed to have improved, taking a cue from news flows that the ruling PML-N would avoid confrontation with state institutions and nominate Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for the prime minister's slot in the upcoming general elections.

A total of 116.7 million shares worth Rs6.9 billion were traded on the broader market. Of the 363 traded scrips, 248 gained in value, 101 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

Commercial banks dominated trading with 17.7m shares traded; the engineering sector followed closely with 15.3m shares traded.

Volumes were led by:

1. Pak Elektron: 11.1m shares traded [-0.46pc]

2. Dost Steels Ltd: 10.6m shares traded [+7.68pc]

3. TRG Pak Ltd: 9.5m shares traded [+2.63pc]

4. Azgard Nine: 6.9m sahres traded [-2.16pc]

5. B.O.Punjab: 5.8m shares traded [+2.35pc]