Benchmark Kse-100 posted modest gains on Wednesday following a bullish trend on Tuesday. Index witnessed a lackluster session as Pakistan Stock Exchange moved in a narrow range to clock at 33,693 points after gaining 90 points. Maintaining yesterday’s strong momentum, index got off to a positive start, however, it kept fluctuating between throughout the session and finally ended the day in the green. Today’s gains marked the third successive session in the positive zone. Market sentiments were picked up after Pakistan successfully retained its May 2017’s upgraded status in the global MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index and averted the chances of being downgraded to Frontier Index in its semi-annual review on Wednesday. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) – the indexes service and analytics provider – has retained all the three large and mid-cap Pakistani stocks ie MCB Bank (MCB), Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in its Global Standard Indexes (GSI), according to the review results. The decision would help Pakistan Pakistan Stock Exchange win global stock market investors’ confidence to invest in listed firms at PSX, as they follow MSCI decisions to invest or divest at global markets. These foreign investors have around $2 trillion investment in hand. However, MSCI has added two Pakistani stocks and deleted another two in its Global Small Cap Indexes. Accordingly, the small cap indexes would welcome Mari Petroleum and Pakistan Petroleum and farewell Nishat Mills and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited. Meanwhile, investors also continued to speculate over policy rate announcement by state bank of Pakistan due on May 15th. Investors are hoping the central bank will further cut its policy rate to cushion the economy rattled by covid-19 pandemic. The State Bank had previously slashed the policy rate by 425 basis points in March and April, from 13.25pc to 9pc. It had cut the policy rate by 75 basis points from 13.25pc to 12.5pc on March 17, by a further 150 basis points to 11pc on March 24, and by 200 basis points to 9pc on April 16. The KSE-100 Index marked its intraday high at 33,802.87 after gaining 199.85 points. It closed higher by 90.02 points at 33,693.04. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 67.21 points to settle at 54,593.07, while the KSE All Share Index added 52.81 points, ending at 23,884.77. The overall market volumes declined from 224.5 million shares in the previous session to 219.2 million shares (-2pc). Market Cap increased by Rs.2.00 Billion. Total volume traded for the index was 143.22 million shares. The volume chart was led by Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited, followed by TRG Pakistan Limited and Dewan Cement Limited , exchanging 23.24 million, 16.31 million and 16.18 million shares, respectively. Sectors that picked up the index were Commercial Banks with 66 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 37 points, Pharmaceuticals with 15 points, Cement with 14 points and Technology & Communication with 12 points. Among the companies, most points added to the index was by Habib Bank Limited which contributed 34 points followed by Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 27 points, Mari Petroleum Company Limited with 16 points, TRG Pakistan Limited with 16 points and Muslim Commercial Bank with 14 points. However index was let down by Power Generation & Distribution sector by 17 points, followed by Investment Banks with 15 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 9 points, Automobile Parts & Accessories with 6 points and Automobile Assembler with 5 points. Among the companies, most points taken off the index was by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited which stripped the index of 25 points followed by Hub Power Company Limited with 20 points, ENGRO with 18 points. Global Markets: Global stock markets tumbled on Wednesday following mounting concerns over possible second wave of covid-19 as many countries reopen their economies. In U.S wall street was bettered as Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell nearly 200 points as investors pored through downbeat remarks from the top-ranking Federal Reserve official amid jitters about reopening the economy. U.S Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks. The stocks also weighed on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments at U.S congressional hearing, who stated vaccine will be essential in stopping the covid-19 spread, but warned it will be a while before a usable one is available. Fauci added the U.S. could face more “suffering and death” if states start to reopen too quickly. Meanwhile, in Europe, stocks bled red as investors’ sentiments plummets. Major European benchmark index plummets including CAC-40 in France, Germany’s DAX and UK’s FTSE-100. FTSE-100 took a plunge after London announced its economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of 2020, as coronavirus forced the country into lockdown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been “widespread” declines across the services, manufacturing and construction sectors.