Stocks tumbled on the last day of the week as Kse-100 index continues to bow down to profit taking and concomitant heavy selling pressure. The index shed 246.96 points on Friday to clock at 39,621 market level, posting 1.65% WoW losses. The bears have entered the market, following 7 weeks of consistent gains, which posted nearly 18.7% gains and record bull run. Index heavy weight sectors including Autos, steel, Refineries and power which recorded a strong rally during the previous weeks were among the major sectors to take the hit. Moreover, the downward trend on the index was also coupled with depleting volumes, with market participation depleting by 24% during this week to mere 441 million shares while ADTO plunged by 15% in comparison to the previous week. On Friday, the index witnessed yet another turbulent session ,with benchmark index shedding over 600 points intraday before paring some early losses towards the end. Investors continues to respond to the developments post Supreme Court (SC) verdict over Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) levy which ruled in favour of the federal government which would collect Rs420 billion from different companies. Moreover, sentiments further dipped following Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ data, which revealed Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based weekly inflation recorded an increase of 0.96%over last week. This increase was mainly due to a rise in prices of food items. The year-on-year inflation trend depicts an increase of 8.50pc. The benchmark KSE-100 remained in the red zone throughout the day, registering its intraday low at 39,240.07 after losing 628.48 points. The index recorded a volume of 207 million shares slightly down from 242.94 million shares in the previous session, while the overall market volumes slightly increased from 394.62 million shares in the previous session to 400.48 million shares . The volume chart was led by Worldcall Telecom followed by Azgard Nine Ltd and TPL Corp Ltd. The scrips exchanged 23.98 million, 21.79 million and 19.58 million shares, respectively. Sectors which weighed down the index were Cement Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 89 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 45 points, Cement with 36 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 29 points and Investment Banks with 13 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index were by Pakistan Petroleum Limited which stripped the index of 52 points followed by O& Gas Development Company Limited with 40 points, Hub Power Company with 37 points, Pakistan State Oil with 23 points and Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 14 points. Sectors which resisted the pressure and lifted the index included were Commercial Banks with 10 points, Fertilizer with 7 points, Glass & Ceramics with 4 points, Modarabas with 2 points and Food & Personal Care Products with 2 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by National Bank of Pakistan which contributed 14 points followed by Habib Bank Limited with 12 points, ENGRO with 12 points, Frieslandcampins Engro Foods Limited with 10 points and Bank Al Falah Limited with 7 points. Global markets: Global stocks were mixed on Friday resisting as investors continue to absorb developments after U.S Federal Reserve flags uncertainty over recovery of U.S economy-world’s largest economy. Minutes released from the Federal Open Market Committee’s last monetary policy meeting showed that central bank policymakers see the U.S. recovery from the coronavirus-induced downturn as “highly uncertain.” In Asia, stocks advanced across the board with South Korean equity markets making a major attempt to recover from Thursday’s losses as the Kospi index gained 1.34% to close at 2,304.59. The index was weighed down in the previous sessions following resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the country. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also made a recovery and rose 1.3% to close at 25,113.84.Chinese stocks were also higher on the day, with benchmark index Shanghai composite recording 0.5% gains to close at about 3,380.68. While, In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index also followed the regional trend and rose 0.17% to close at 22,920.30. However, European stocks continue to edge lower despite early attempt of recovery. The market sentiments were dented following Euro zone flash PMI (purchasing managers’ index) data published on Friday which shed any hopes of a V-shaped recovery from the bloc’s deepest economic downturn on record. The August composite reading, widely seen as a strong gauge of economic health, fell to 51.6 from July’s 54.9, defying analysts” expectations. Region’s Pan-European Stoxx 600 lost nearly 0.15% by the closing end of the trading session as most sectors and major bourses sank despite starting the session in positive territory. Among other major bourses Germany’s DAX index dipped 0.51% while CAC-40 in France also declined by 0.30% UK’s FTSE-100 also followed region’s trend and closed 0.19% lower. In the U.S, Wall Street witnessed a mixed trend with major markets trading flat to end a week that saw the broader market reach a record level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 73 points higher, or 0.3%, while S&P 500 was up marginally. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite also gained 0.3%. During this week the S&P 500 broke above its late-February high and touched a fresh all-time high, while Nasdaq Composite also hit a record on Thursday. The sentiments at Eall Street were primarily driven by economic data from IHS Markit which showed U.S. manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 19 months in August, while services were at their highest level in 17 months.