The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) commenced the week on an almost flattish note as the benchmark KSE-100 Index managed to land in the green while gaining a meagre 40 points to close at 40,050.

The market had witnessed a sharp surge in buying activity within the first 30 minutes of trading, with the benchmark climbing 120 points to touch a day's high of 40,131. However, the trend reversed right after, with the index sliding to a day's low of 39,931 points near mid-day.

In all, 96.6 million shares worth almost Rs4.6 billion changed hands during the session. The communication sector led trading activity with almost 21 million shares, followed by power generation and distribution as well as engineering sectors, with 8.6 and 8 million shares traded.

TRG (-4.41pc) was the primary contributor to the total market volumes, followed by KEL (+0.32pc) and ANL (+0.31pc), said a JS Global report.

SNGP (+3.48pc) closed positive on the back of the news that government has assured SNGP that its return will not diminish after reforms in the gas sectors, it added.

A rally was witnessed in the cement sector where LUCK (+1.24pc), DGKC (+1.85pc) and MLCF (+1.25pc) closed positively, the report said, adding that the banking sector remained under pressure throughout the day as HBL (-0.83pc), MCB (-1pc) and BAFL (-0.89pc) closed in the red trajectory.

According to the report, the E&P sector caught investors' interest and closed higher than its previous day close where POL (+0.56pc), PPL (+1.22pc) and OGDC (+2.01pc) closed in the green zone, it added.

A total of 335 symbols were traded, out of which 169 gained, 146 declined whereas 20 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

• TRG Pak Ltd: 16.3m shares traded [-4.41pc];

• K-Electric Ltd: 6.0m shares traded [+0.32pc];

• Azgard Nine: 5.1m shares traded [+0.31pc];

• Dost Steels Ltd: 4.9m shares traded [+2.52];

• WorldCall Telecom: 3.8m shares traded [+2.83pc].