Stocks continued to lose ground to bearish pressure, on Tuesday, as Kse-100 index plunged 345 points to close below 42,000 mark at 41,828.91 index level. Investors continue to tread cautiously as the trading activity at the index was knocked by the rollover week, wherein phenomenal activities of offloading the stocks purchased earlier at attractive valuation kicks in. The market expects massive selloff in the ongoing week, to cover their positions and opt for profit-taking. Moreover, the negative trend in the international markets also impacted the investors sentiments at the benchmark index, after FinCen files leaks sent major banking stocks posting huge losses, weighing down stock markets, after major banks were found “profiting from powerful and dangerous players” in the past two decades even after the U.S. imposed penalties on these financial institutions. The sentiments took a hit at Pakistan Stock exchange, after the leaked files also found Six Pakistani banks in an investigation on the role global banks play in money laundering by Buzzfeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for 29 suspicious transactions close to $2.5 million. The banks named are Allied Bank, United Bank (UBL), Habib Metropolitan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan, and Habib Bank (HBL). All the suspicious transactions took place in 2011 and 2012. On Tuesday, KSE-100 Index remained under pressure throughout the session, as the index traded in the red zone, registering its intraday low at 41,672.45 index level, after losing 501.69 points. The index volumes slightly increased from 231.11 million shares, recorded in the previous session to 249.98 million shares, while the overall market volumes also slightly advanced from 433.94 million shares from the previous session to 441.29 million shares. The volume chart was led by Hascol petroleum Limited, followed by Aisha Steel Mills Limited and Unity Foods Limited. The scrips exchanged 31.36 million, 30.90 million and 29.80 million shares, respectively. Sectors which dragged down the index were Commercial Banks with 99 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 77 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 63 points, Fertilizer with 53 points and Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 31 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Hub Power Company Limited which stripped the index of 43 points followed by Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 30 points, Engro Corporation Limited with 28 points, Habib Bank Limited with 27 points and United Bank Limited with 22 points. Sectors, which continued resist the pressure and added value to the index were Investment Banks with 28 points, Cement with 12 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 11 points, Textile Spinning with 2 points and Real Estate Investment Trust with 2 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited which contributed 31 points followed by Murree Brewery Company Limited with 10 points, Cherat Cement Company Limited with 6 points, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited with 6 points and DG Khan Cement with 5 points. Global markets: Stocks attempted recovery despite Covid-19 resurgence concerns Global stocks attempted to post recovery, following steep losses recorded on Monday over fears over resurgence of covid-19 cases and FinCen documents leak. In Asia, continue to decline on Tuesday, with South Korea’s Kospi index leading regional losses among as it declined 2.38% to close at 2,332.59.Chinese stocks also saw losses on the day, with the Shanghai composite losing 1.29% to about 3,274.30 index level while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also slipped 0.98% to finish its trading day at 23,716.85. Among the major stocks at Hang Seng, HSBC saw its stock drop 2.05% while Standard Chartered fell 2.29%. European stocks registered a recovery path with oil and gas stocks leading the gains while the travel and leisure sector added to the losses. Among the major bourses, Germany’s DAX led the gains, and advanced 1.06%, followed by UK’s FTSE-100 which gained 0.88%. CAC-40 in France also followed the trend and advanced 0.42%. In U.S, stocks also rebounded at Wall Street, as Tech stocks attempted to recover some losses. During the early trading hours, S&P 500 was trading 0.4% higher while the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite was also trading advanced 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also trading climbed 0.2% higher. Among the major tech stocks, Amazon shares led the gains and rose 1.6% after a Bernstein analyst upgraded the e-commerce giant to buy from hold, noting the recent pullback offers an attractive “entry point” for investors.