Stocks continued to take a hit at Pakistan Stock exchange amid dwindling investor sentiments and selling pressure. Kse-100 index breached 40,000 mark on Thursday to clock at 39,868.55 market level, after losing 285.56 points by the session closing. The kse -100 index attempted to mark some early gains, however failing to sustain the momentum, the index lost the ground to profit taking and heavy selling. The index lost over 350 points intraday mainly due to selling activity observed in fertiliser, banking, cement, refinery and oil & gas marketing companies, especially after the announcement of dismal financial results by index heavyweights. The index heavy weight Fertilizer Sector continues to take losses post Supreme Court (SC) verdict over Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) levy and ruled in favour of the federal government which would collect Rs420 billion from different companies. Moreover investors’ sentiments were further dented following State Bank of Pakistan’s latest data showed that in July 2020 country’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) declined 35% MoM to $114.3 million. However, FDI in Pakistan reached up to $114.3 million during July 2020, as compared to the net inflow of $71.1 million in the same time period last year, showing an increase of 60.8%. The benchmark KSE-100 was volatile and remained in the red zone for almost the entire session, recording its intraday low at 39,781.39 after losing 372.72 points. The index recorded a volume of 242.94 million shares, slightly down from 248.94 million shares in the previous session, while the overall market volumes also clocked at 394.62 million shares, down from 427 million shares in the previous session. The volume chart was led by TRG Pakistan Ltd followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd and Unity Foods Ltd. The scrips exchanged 30.42 million, 21.05 million and 20.14 million shares, respectively. Sectors which weighed down the index Cement with 80 points, Commercial Banks with 44 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 27 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 24 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 24 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was MCB which stripped the index of 70 points followed by Hub Power Company Ltd with 32 points, Lucky Cement with 29 points, ENGRO with 26 points and Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 16 points. Sectors which resisted the pressure and lifted the index included Technology & Communication with 16 points, Chemical with 6 points, Tobacco with 4 points and Vanaspati & Allied Industries with 2 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Habib Bank Limikted which contributed 19 points followed by TRG Pakistan Ltd with 14 points, All Bank Limited with 14 points, Kot Addu Power Plant with 14 points and Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited with 10 points.