Bulls and bears continued to struggle at Kse-100 index, as it witnessed dangerously volatile session with index entering an uncharted territory. The index lost 182 points by the session’s closing on Thursday ahead of extended weekend, and closed at 40,290.74 points. 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, however index heavy weight Fertilizer Sector took a hit and pared previous day’s gains after Supreme Court (SC) dismissed all petitions against the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) levy and ruled in favour of the federal government which would collect Rs420 billion from different companies. Following the verdict, investors rushed to book profits which sent major stocks including Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, Engro Fertilizers Limited and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited struggling to find ground. Apart from this, in the last few trading hours of the week, news of a potential settlement between the IPPs and the govt. emerged exerting pressure on listed IPPs, especially the ones falling under the ambit of 2002 Power Policy. Broad contours of the settlement shared on various media outlets suggest that contractual ROEs of these companies will now be based on Paki rupee instead of US Dollars, in addition to lower U.S Dollars indexation. Further details related to the settlement are still awaited.Irfan Saeed, Senior Vice President, BMA Capital Management said market has entered a dangerous zone which is further expected to witness correction ,as index had crossed the psychological barrier of 41,000 level, however on Thursday the index bent over to make 40,000 mark as a support base. But, Mr Saeed added market may not be able to hold this support base, and further shed more than 1000 points to find a stable ground. The market trembled upon rocky ground after a stellar performance of 19% over the past 7 weeks. During the trading session, the investment chart witnessed a mixed trend with buying table being led by insurance companies with $2.5 million worth of equities followed by foreign investors with $2 million worth of equities. Meanwhile, the sell table was led by companies with $2.7 million worth of equities, followed by individuals with $1 million worth of equities.The benchmark KSE-100 remained in the negative zone for most of the session, marking its intraday low at 39,898.22 after shedding 574.96 points. The index recorded a volume of 342 million shares, down from 396 million shares in the previous session, while the overall market volumes also slightly declined from 591 million shares in the previous session to 556 million shares. The volume chart was led by Unity Foods Limited followed by Hascol Petroleum Limited and Unity Foods Limited Right Shares. The scrips exchanged 60.27 million, 50.87 million and 50.64 million shares, respectively.Sectors which dented the index included Fertilizer with 201 points, Investment Banks /with 27 points, Commercial Banks with 19 points, Textile Composite with 19 points and Automobile Parts & Accessories with 11 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index were by Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited which stripped the index of 114 points followed by Engro Corporation Limited with 44 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 27 points, Engro Fertilizers Limited with 26 points and Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 24 points. However, sectors which resisted the pressure and lifted the index included Technology & Communication with 30 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 29 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 22 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 18 points and Cement with 14 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by TRG Pakistan Limited which contributed 37 points followed by Hub Power Company Limited with 22 points, Bank Al Habib Limited with 20 points, Sui North Gas Pipeline with 15 points and Hascol Petroleum Limited with 13 points.Global markets: Global stocks were mixed on Thursday as investors remain unfazed about escalating Sino-U.S tensions. However, developments on Covid-19 vaccine directed investors’ sentiments 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 traded mixed with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index the only major bourse to close in a negative territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.05% after tech giant Tencent shares slipped 1.44% after the Chinese tech giant reported earnings after markets close on Wednesday. Gaming boosted overall revenue in the second quarter, while Tencent saw some weakness in its advertising business. Overall, its profit attributable to equity holders of the company was 33.1 billion yuan ($4.76 billion) compared to 27.56 billion yuan expected. That’s a 37% year-on-year rise. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.78% higher to close at 23,249.61, after auto and tech stocks jumped, while index hevy weight Softbank shares also jumped 3.73%. South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 0.21% to close at 2,437.53, while China’s Shanghai composite traded flat to close at 3,320.73.Meanwhile in Europe, stocks declined across the board as investors tracked the lack of progress in negotiations over a U.S. $1.1 trillion pandemic relief package. Among the major stocks, banking stocks shed the most points while retail bucked the trend. UK’s FTSE-100 edge lower by 1.50% while CAC-40 in France also declined 0.61%.Germany’s DAX also lost ground and closed 0.50% lower.In the U.S, Wall Street also recorded steady gains but major index remained little changed as the S&P 500 traded just below a record high and traders digested better-than-expected unemployment data- which showed that the Initial U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to 963,000, the Labor Department said. That’s below a Dow Jones estimate of 1.1 million. It was also the first time since late March that jobless claims came in below 1 million. The S&P 500 index gained 0.11%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 0.17%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, and rose 0.86%.