Stocks managed to gain some ground on Thursday as Kse-100 gained 105.44 points by the session’s closing to clock at 40,676.92 points. On Thursday, the index nosedived during the early trade and succumbed to selling pressure, losing over 450 points, however the index regained some momentum near the closing session amid a buying spell, mainly witnessed in blue-chip stocks, especially in cement and banking sectors. The market participants continued to be wary of rising political noise which had kicked in ever since the PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday. The sentiments were further shaken on the day over a possible escalation of political chaos following the news-flow that the PML-N’s supremo, in his address to his party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), will call for political agitation. Moreover, the recent volatility at the index was induced by fresh micro-smart lockdown imposed in Karachi, after the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) expressed concern over an increase in Covid-19 cases, particularly in Karachi, which accounted for nearly half of the new cases registered countrywide on Tuesday. The negative perception was also coupled with anticipation of headline inflation, as the inflation for Sep’20 is likely to upswing amid higher food prices, investors seem to be cautious to take new positions since market has surged nearly 18% during outgoing 3rd quarter of fiscal year 2021. During the day, in a tense session Kse-100 index traded in a range of 621 points, and touched its intraday low at 40,113.95 after it index lost 457.53 points. The index, however, changed its direction during the final trading hour, touching its intraday high at 40,735.84 after gaining 164.36 points. The index volumes depleted from 336.7 million shares, recorded in the previous session to 268.42 million shares , while the overall market volumes also decreased from 473.7 million shares recorded in the previous session to 371.73 million shares. The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Limited, followed by K-Electric Limited and Unity Foods Limited. The scrips exchanged 67.65 million, 28.89 million and 26.06 million shares, respectively. Sectors which lifted the index were Commercial Banks with 94 points, Cement with 51 points, Chemical with 20 points, and Oil and Gas Exploration Companies with 15 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Habib Bank Limited which contributed 30.3 points followed by Muslim Commercial Bank with 29.9 points, United Bank Limited with 27.5 points and DG Khan Cement and ENGRO with 25 points respectively. Global Markets advance amid U.S covid-19 stimulus package, Vaccine hopes Global stocks jumped on Thursday as markets are buoyed by Covid-19 pandemic which continues to dominate investor sentiment with news on potential coronavirus vaccines being followed closely. Drugmaker Moderna’s CEO said he doesn’t expect to apply for an emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration for the company’s potential Covid-19 vaccine until after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3. Moreover, investors closely watched developments over a possible U.S Covid-19 stimulus package after White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told media on Wednesday that U.S President Donald Trump has extended an offer for more than $1.5 trillion in stimulus. No further details were given on the exact figure except that anything around $2 trillion and above would be a “real problem.” Meadows comments came after House Speaker NancyPelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to strike a coronavirus aid deal in a meeting Wednesday afternoon. However the pair said the conversation would continue. Most of the Asian markets remained closed while Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) halted trading on Thursday due to a technical issue. Meanwhile, in Europe stocks posted gains on the day as investors tracked gains on Wall Street in the previous session, with economic data and corporate earnings in focus. Among the major stocks retail stocks led the gains while oil and gas stocks slid. While among the major markets, CAC-40 in France led the gains, adding 0.50% to the index level followed by UK’s FTSE-100 which gained 0.30%. However, Germany’s DAX edged lower fractionally. In U.S, Wall Street witnessed fresh interest following hopes for further fiscal stimulus package to kick off a new month and quarter. During the early trading session Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 160 points higher after jumping 250 points earlier, while S&P 500 was trading 0.5% higher. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite was also advancing during early trade. The major rally was led by big technology stocks, as Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Facebook all jumped at least 1%.