Stocks advanced on Tuesday as bull-run continues at Kse-100, which clocked at 38, 627.27 points after a 406.11 points rally. Benchmark Kse-100 index has the began the week with a promising start on the back of solid rally in the banking sector as it is set to unveil its first half-year earnings. The market continues to exhibit strength as it has recorded over 13% run-up since June 01, 2020, beginning of the financial year over solid market fundamentals and earnings season. The sentiments were buoyed by better than expected Habib Bank Limited (HBL) results which lifted the entire banking sector, after the bank announced an exorbitant after-tax profit of Rs15.1 billion for the half-year ended June 30, 2020, which is 286% more than the same period last year, defying market expectations. The strong sentiments are also supported by a steep dip in covid-19 cases lifting hopes of revival of economic activity in the country which has been dampened since the beginning of the year. The positive sentiments were further induced in the market after State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced that it received $505.5 million from the World Bank to sustain itself in the fight against the cocid-19 that has adversely affected the economy of the country. However, during the run up some profit-taking was witnessed in the Fertilizer and Exploration &Production sector, but the selling pressure failed to dent market rally. The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green throughout the session, registering its intraday high at 38,700.96 after accumulating 479.80 points. The kse-100 also recorded an intra low at 38,221.16. The index volume surged from nearly 184 million shares in the previous session to 241.93 million shares, while the overall market volume increased from 288.1 million shares in the previous session to 394.297 million shares The volume chart was led by Pak Elektron Ltd, followed by Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (and The Bank of Punjab. The scrips exchanged 26.29 million, 26.16 million and 23.40 million shares, respectively. The sectors which lifted the index included Commercial Banks with 171 points, Cement with 73 points, Technology & Communication with 30 points, Textile Composite with 23 points and Automobile Assembler with 20 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Lucky cement which contributed 41 points followed by Meezan Bank Limited with 37 points, TRG Pakistan Limitedwith 32 points, Bank Al Habib Limited with 31 points and Muslim Commercial Bank with 26 points. However, Sectors which added pressure on the index were Investment Banks, Fertilizer, Automobile Parts & Accessories, Miscellaneous and Leather & Tanneries. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited which stripped the index of 7 points followed by NESTLE Pakistan Limited with 7 points, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited with 7 points, Archroma Pakistan Limited with 4 points. Global markets: Global stocks witnessed a mixed trend as investors struggled to find a direction over escalating U.S- China tensions. Moreover, investors are closely following the developments on a stimulus package of worth over $1 Trillion by the U.S government which seemingly outweighed concerns over mushrooming covid-19 resurgence worldwide. In Europe, most of the stocks struggled to stand a steady ground with pan-European Stoxx 600 hovering just below the flat line by mid-afternoon, having been up 0.5% in early trade. UK’S FTSE-100 climbed 0.32% while CAC-40 in France and Germany’s DAX declined 0.25% and 0.08% respectively. Asian stocks also followed a mixed trend as investors continued to watch for developments on Covid-19. Among the major markets, Shares in South Korea led gains, with the Kospi index recording 1.76% gains to close at 2,256.99 as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics soared 5.4%.Mainland Chinese stocks were also higher on the day, with the benchmark Shanghai composite advancing 0.71% to around 3,227.96. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also added up 0.69%. However, Japan’s, Nikkei 225 dipped 0.26% to close at 22,657.38. Tokyo’s stocks lagged behind, however index’s earlier losses were pared after Shares of Fujifilm rose 3.1% following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. government awarded the firm a $265 million contract for coronavirus vaccine manufacturing. In U.S, stocks failed to sustain Monday’s gains as Wall Street continues to speculate over a possible stimulus package. While investors are closely watching for the development, as Federal Reserve starts its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, followed by an interest rate decision on Wednesday. During the trading session, Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 157 points lower, to lose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.4%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite also dropped 0.6% on the day.