Stocks extended gains for the second consecutive day on Thursday, as Kse-100 index climbed 503.66 points, past 40,000 mark to clock at 40,353.66 points. On Thursday, investors picked the cues from previous session’s momentum as Kse-100 continued its uphill task right from the beginning abandoning weeks of consistent panic selling. Stocks witnessed fresh buying spree ahead of earnings season, as value hunters had embarked upon cherry picking oversold equities at attractive rates. Moreover, the market sentiments were swayed by improvement in international oil prices due to demand optimism as International Oil prices soared above $40/barrel. During the day, Exploration & Production sector led major buying activity, while oil & gas marketing, banking and cement stocks also contributed to the buying activity. Analysts, however, continue to speculate over rising political uncertainty as market sentiments are expected to add up on increasing Covid-19 cases and a possible second wave of the pandemic which threatens to slow down the revival of economic activity. Moreover, investors are closely watching the upcoming session of global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which will virtually meet later this month to deliberate on Pakistan’s compliance with international money laundering and anti-terrorist financing norms. Pakistan needs to get the nod of at least one-third of FATF members to extricate itself from the grey list. During the day the index cemented its position, and rallied into touching its intra-day high at 40,412.06 after gaining 562.10 points. The index volumes increased from 270.11 million shares recorded in the previous session to 355.09 million shares, however, the overall market volumes rose 431.96 million shares from the previous session to 476.87 million shares. The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Limited, followed by Unity Foods Limited and TRG Pakistan Limited. The scrips exchanged 107.78 million, 56.32 million and 20.70 million shares, respectively. Sectors which lifted the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 123 points, Cement with 82 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 73 points, Commercial Banks with 70 points and Fertilizer with 68 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Oil & Gas Development Company Limited which contributed 62 points followed by Pakistan State Oil with 46 points, Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 33 points, Pakistan Oilfields Limited with 29 points and Habib Bank Limited with 28 points. However, sectors which continued to add pressure to the index were Automobile Parts & Accessories with 8 points, Investment Banks with 6 points, Transport with 3 points and Insurance with 2 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Bank Al Habib Limited which stripped the index of 20 points followed by Bank Al Falah Limited with 6 points, THAL Limited with 6 points. Global markets: U.S stimulus package hopes lifts stocks Global stocks witnessed a mild rally as investors closely follow developments on U.S. stimulus support, after U.S President Donald Trump tweeted support for aid to airlines and other stimulus measures. That was in contrast to Tuesday, when he said the White House is halting stimulus negotiations with the Democrats. In Asia, most of the stocks advanced with Japan’s, Nikkei 225 leading the gains, gaining 0.96% to close at 23,647.07 while South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.21% on the day to 2,391.96. However, among the regional bourses, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, lagged behind and slipped 0.2% to close at 24,193.35. European markets also advanced across the board, with travel and leisure stocks leading the gains to lead the upward momentum, while basic resources slid lower. Sentiments were also lifted after data showed, German exports rose for the fourth consecutive month, growing 2.4% in August after a 4.7% rise in July, according to figures released Thursday by the Federal Statistics Office. Among regional markets, Germany’s DAX led the gains, which increased over 1%, while UK’s FTSE-100 and CAC-40 in France also managed score some gains. In U.S, Wall Street witnessed gains for the second consecutive day, over hopes of fresh stimulus package. Meanwhile, Investors also digested the latest U.S. weekly jobless claims data, which showed an additional 840,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected first-time claims for unemployment insurance to total 825,000 for the week ending Oct. 3.During the early trading hours, Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 150 points higher, while S&P 500 gained 0.7%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.4%.