Bulls and bears locked horns on Wednesday in a volatile trading session as Kse-100 crossed 41,000 mark during the initial trading hours after gaining 559 points. However, after touching an intra-day high of 41,118.60 points, index lost all its gains and closed 85.97 points lower to clock at 40,473.18 index level. The kse-100 index has entered a volatile mode as investors are treading cautiously ever since index entered an overbought territory. Market saw strong enthusiasm early in the day in Fertilizer Sector stocks on anticipation of a favorable decision by Supreme Court with regards to Gas Development Infrastructure Cess (GIDC), scheduled for Thursday. Moreover, considerable activity was witnessed in HASCOL after its material information sent to PSX disclosed that Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has granted the company permanent marketing license in place of provisional marketing license. Irfan Saeed, Senior Vice President, BMA Capital Management said market is expected to further correct itself for a short term, as index crossed psychological barrier of 41,000 level. But, Mr Saeed said strong trend will be witnessed in Independent power sector as Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in an interview indicated that talks with the sector are expected to reach conclusion soon. The news has already pushed fresh rally in Hub power Company limited and Kot Addu Power Plant. During the trading session, individuals led the investment chart, and were net buyers of $8.5 million worth of equities, while Mutual funds were net buyers of $4.8 million worth of equities. However, the selling chart was led by Banks, which were net sellers of $7.1 million worth of stocks. Meanwhile, foreign investors were the net buyers of $1.4 million worth of equities. The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained volatile throughout the session, with index recording a volume of 396 million shares, down from 401.60 million shares in the previous session, while the overall market volumes also slightly declined from 600 million shares in the previous session to 591 million shares. The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Limited , TRG Pakistan Limited and Pakistan Refinery Limited. The scrips exchanged 88.37 million, 36.33 million and 32.35 million shares, respectively. Sectors which dented the index included Cement with 58 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 34 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 24 points, Pharmaceuticals with 19 points and Investment Banks with 18 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Pakistan Petroleum Limited which stripped the index of 17 points followed by Lucky Cement with 17 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 16 points, Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 15 points and Pakistan State Oil with 14 points. However, sectors which resisted the pressure and lifted the index included Power Generation & Distribution with 47 points, Fertilizer with 42 points, Commercial Banks with 24 points, Chemical with 21 points and Technology & Communication with 16 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Fauji Fertilizer Company Limitedwhich contributed 62 points followed by Hub Power Company with 44 points, National Bank of Pakistan with 23 points, United Bank Limitedwith 22 points and TRG Pakistan Limited with 14 points. Global markets Most of the Global stocks witnessed an upward trend on Wednesday as investors shed escalating Sino-U.S tensions following U.S President Donald Trump’s executive orders to ban Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. Which was followed by a tit for tat reaction by china after reports said it had imposed sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens that included Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley and Pat Toomey. Moreover investors followed developments on Covid-19 vaccine after Russia claimed to have developed the first vaccine in the world. The announcement lifted hopes of economic recovery and shed fears of another wave of the virus. In Asia, most of the stocks spiked with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading the regional gains among major bourses, as the index closed 1.42% higher. South Korea’s Kospi index also erased earlier losses, and gained 0.57%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 also traded higher by 0.41% to close at 22,843.96. However, Chinese stocks dented the trend with Shanghai composite closing 0.63% lower. European stocks advanced across the board as investors brushed off tensions between the U.S. and China and bet upon impending economic recovery from the covid-19 crisis. Telecoms sector led the gains but the trend was dented by travel and leisure sector. UK’s FTSE-100 advanced 2.20% despite the figures published shoed that the UK economy suffered its biggest slump on record between April and June as coronavirus lockdown measures pushed the country officially into recession. The economy shrank 20.4% compared with the first three months of the year. Meanwhile, Germany’s DAX and CAC-40 in France also advanced nearly 1% on recovery hopes. In the U.S, Wall Street also recorded steady gains over Covid-19 stimulus hopes and development on global vaccine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 239 points higher, or 0.9%, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.3%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.9%.Major gains were posted after major tech companies recovered some of their steep losses from the previous session. Facebook, Amazon and Netflix all gained 2% while Alphabet advanced 1.4%. Microsoft and Apple also gained 2.4% and 2.8%, respectively. However, Investors also closely followed uncertainty over a second covid-19 stimulus bill as partisan U.S lawmakers remained at loggerheads.