KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bullish sentiment as its benchmark KSE-100 rallied 492 points. KSE-100 started session with buying spree, hitting an intra-day high of 78,890.79 in first half and bulls managed to maintain their grip till end of day.

At close, benchmark index settled at 78,848.01, up by 491.69 points or 0.63 percent. Key stocks, including MARI, OGDC, EFERT, LUCK and BAHL, drove market's rise, contributing 290 points to index. Value of shares also rose to Rs 17.51 billion from Rs 12.25 billion in previous session. WorldCall Telecom was volume leader with 234.64 million shares, followed by Pervez Ahmed Co with 48.69 million shares and Kohinoor Spining with 45.08 million shares. Shares of 443 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 259 registered an increase, 138 recorded fall, while 46 remained unchanged. Brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said finance minister's assurance had lifted investor confidence, which led to positive sentiment in market. Globally, Asian shares and global stock futures tumbled on Wednesday.  Japan's Nikkei led slump in Asia, falling more than 3 percent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 1.6 percent in early trade.Wall Street closed sharply lower overnight after US returned from holiday at start of week.