Stocks witnessed a relief on Friday after investors squared their positions on the last day of the expirations of May future contracts- adding fresh buying rally. Benchmark KSE-100 index compensated last sessions’ losses by ending the trading session with a 235.81 point or 0.70 percent gain to close at 33,931.23 level. The Index remained positive throughout the session touching an intraday high of 34,049.17. Of the 94 traded companies in the Kse-100 Index 63 scrips edged up 29 scrips lost value closed, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 166.43 million shares. The investors, however remained cautious over news flow that suggested the government is contemplating on next step amid rising COVID-19 cases, current account deficit that clocked in at $572 million in April 2020 compared to $9 million in March 2020. Investors are hoping the government may add some stimulus measures for major sectors in the upcoming budget, but due to lack of clarity the sentiments remained lackluster. Sectors that propped up the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 68 points, Cement with 43 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 39 points, Commercial Banks with 37 points and Insurance with 26 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by O& Gas Development Company limited which contributed 53 points followed by Hub Power Company Limited, with 32 points, Lucky Cement Limited with 31 points, Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 24 points and Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited with 16 points. However, the index was let down by Food & Personal Care Products with 31 points, followed by Fertilizer with 17 points, Tobacco with 11 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 4 points and Sugar & Allied Industries with 2 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by ENGRO which stripped the index of 34 points followed by NESTLE with 26 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 16 points, Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited with 11 points and Pakistan state oil with 7 points. Global Markets Global stocks retreated following escalating tensions between United States and China over controversial new security law for Hong Kong. Markets are expecting a further souring of relations between the world’s foremost economic superpowers which may possibly scrap phase 1 trade deal earlier signed between the countries, ending year of trade war. Asian markets dipped after the Chinese National People’s Congress’ passed the new security bill late on Thursday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling 0.74% to lead losses. But Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher on the day, with the Shanghai composite closing 0.22% higher to around 2852.35. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 edged lower by 0.18% on the day to 21,877.89 as shares of robot maker Fanuc fell 2.76%. In South Korea, benchmark Kospi clocked its trading day slightly higher at 2,029.60. In Europe, despite major economies are set to reopen, investors closely followed U.S- Sino tensions. Major stock markets including UK’ FTSE-100 lost 2% , followed by German DAX that edged lower by over 1.50%. CAC-40 in France also lost ground, closing 1.29% lower. Among the major losers, Tui stock shed more than 14% following its massive rally earlier in the week. The Anglo-German travel operator announced that it had cancelled all overseas beach holidays from the U.K. until July 1 due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, luxury car and airplane manufacturer Rolls-Royce shares continued to tumble on Friday, dropping 7.4% after S&P downgraded its credit rating to “junk.” While at Wall street, stocks erased gains and turned negative ahead of after President Donald Trump’s press conference regarding China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 200 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 slid 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite recorded marginal losses. Traders expect Trump to impose sanctions on China, but the move will take a much larger hit on U.S economy, which is already reeling off of historic job losses and worst economic contraction. The additional sanction will result in complete breakdown of supply chains and international trade, primarily between the two largest economies. US GDP contracted by 5% annually in the first quarter, biggest quarterly decline in more than a decade, since an 8.4pc fall in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the depths of the financial crisis. While, U.S hob losses have passed 40 million in past 10 weeks, as the number of unemployment claims continued to rise with 2.1 million people filing for unemployment last week.