KARACHI: Volatility marked the trading session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, with the KSE100 index extending its decline from a day ago in the first hour.

However, buyers stepped in subsequently and share prices rose to hover within a small range in later hours, said Topline Securities Ltd.

Positive contributions to the index originated from fertiliser, oil marketing and banlcing sectors.

Arif Habib Ltd said the news of Pakistan Tele com mun ic ation Company Ltd buying Telenor Pakistan Ltd for Rs108 billion soon after the purchase of a 40 per cent stake in an oil marketing company by Saudi energy giant Aramco has given rise to expectations about `many more` mergers and acquisition in2024.

JS Global Capital Ltd said it expects the bullish trend to continue going forward. It also advised investors to look for buying opportunities in bank-ing, cement and exploration and production sectors.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 65,450.19 points after gaining 170.02 points or 0.26pc from thepreceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 27.7pc to 981.2 million shares. The traded value decreased 37pc to Rs23.7bn on a dayon-day basis.Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (160.2m shares), the Bank of Punjab Ltd (89.7m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (79.3mshares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (49.2m shares) and K-Electric Ltd (48m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs175), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs85), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs30.22), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs20.86) and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation Ltd (Rs17.72).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Pakistan Ltd (Rs350), Service Industries Ltd (Rs23.28), ColgatePalmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs18.82), Abbott Laboratories Ltd (Rs15.61) and Mitchells Fruit Farms Lt d (R s12.80).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.51m.