The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended Tuesday nearly flat, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining only 23 points, or 0.05 per cent, by the close of trading session to reach 50,144.

The index had tested the day's high at 50,311 points and the day's low at 49,920 points withing the first 40 minutes of the session before oscillating to close with nominal gains.

Trading was led by the cement sector, with 40.2 million shares traded during the session.

"The cement sector maintained its positive momentum on the back of rumours of prices increase in cement bags," said a monitoring report issued by JS Research. According to the report, shares of Lucky Cement gained 1.43pc in value, DG Khan Cement 1.57pc, Maple Leaf Cement 3.11pc and Fauji Cement 1.75pc during the day.

The highest volumes were seen in Engro Polymer & Chemicals, which saw almost 16mn shares traded and gained 4.98pc, it added.

The report noted that international oil prices had slipped after Saudi Arabia and other Arab states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. This was reflected in the performance of oil stocks, where OGDC and Pakistan Oilfields closed down 1.43pc and 1.62pc, respectively.

"Falling global crude prices amidst the Qatar diplomatic crisis and weak global equities invited mid-session pressure," said a senior analyst Ahsan Mehanti.

"Strong economic growth forecast at 5.5pc for 2017-8 in the World Bank's 2017 Global Economic Prospects Report played a catalyst role in the positive close," he added.

259.5 million shares changed hands by the end of the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs16.4 billion.

Stocks of 365 companies were traded, of which 152 gained in value, 193 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

Engro Polymer: 15.9m shares traded [+4.98pc];

Dost Steel Ltd: 15.9m shares traded [-0.50pc];

Power Cement(R): 14.6m shares traded [-4.31pc];

Bank of Punjab: 13.5m shares traded [-12.82pc];

Maple Leaf Cement: 10.1m shares traded [+3.11pc];