Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a record breaking volume on Wednesday, as number of shares traded crossed 1 billion for the first time in 16 years. However, by the closing bell the benchmark index KSE-100 closed lost 30.48 points to clock at 46,644.29index level. On Wednesday, the index remained volatile and oscillated between negative and positive territory,as it registered its intraday high at 46,845.44 after gaining 170.67 points, however failing to sustain the momentum, selling pressure pared earlier gains and lost as much as 333 points to touch intra-day low at 46,341.76. Investors remained cautious throughout the day, despite anticipation of better quarterly results as well as continued bull-run in international crude oil prices. During the early rally, Investors took new positions, primarily in cement sector, following news reports of potential cement price hike and better than expected financial results, which lifted Lucky Cement, Fauji Cement Company Limited, Kohat Cement Company Limited, Cherat Cement Company Limited and Pioneer Cement Limited, which closed 3-7.5% higher. The volume at Kse-100 increased from 278.82 million shares recorded in the previous session, to 314.4 million shares, while the all-share volume sky rocketed from 664.03 million shares in the previous sessionto 1.01 billion shares- as surge of 52 percent. . The volume chart was led by Worldcall Telecomwhich was mainly led by retail investor participation post launch of Fiber to home service in Lahore. K-Electric Limitedand Telecard Limited also led the volume chart, with the scrips exchanging 370.39 million, 106.88 shares and 41.70 million shares, respectively. According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited, foreign investors continued to remain net sellers of worth $1.85million worth of shares. Among local investors, Banks and Insurance Companies led the selling chart and offloaded $1.99 million and $1.15 million worth of equities. However, Mutual Funds and Companiesmopped up $2.97 million, $2.65millionworth of equities. Sectors that dented the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 90 points, Commercial Banks with 49 points, Technology & Communication with 33 points, Fertilizer with 20 points, and Engineering with 11 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Oil &Gas Development Company Limited which stripped the index of 33 points followed by Mari Petroleum Limited with 23 points, Systems Limited with 21 points, Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 19 points and Bank Al HabibLimited with 16 points. However, sectors that continued to weigh up the index were Cement with 208 points, Automobile Parts & Accessories with 9 points, Tobacco with 5 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 2 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 1 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Lucky Cement which contributed 74 points followed by FaujiCement Company Limited with 29 points, Cherat Cement Company limited with 25 points, Pioneer Cement Limited with 25 points and DGKhan Cement Limited with 21 points. Global Markets: Stocks resumed February rally Global stock market resumed February rally on Wednesday after Investors took some chips off the table in the previous session. Stocks investors cheered a batch of solid corporate earnings as well as data showing subdued inflation in US. In Asia, stocks across the board inched higher, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led the regional gains and jumped 1.91% to close at 30,038.72, followed by China’s benchmark index Shanghai composite which gained 1.43% to 3,655.09. South Korea’s Kospi index also advanced 0.52% to finish its trading day at 3,100.58m while Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.19% on the day to 29,562.93. European markets also traded higher as the pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered 0.3% above the flatline by mid-afternoon trade, with basic resources jumped 1.8% while oil and gas stocks fell 1.2%. At the top of the Stoxx 600, Swedish outdoor brand Thule Groupand Dutch payment processing firm Adyen both climbed more than 9% after strong fourth-quarter earnings reports Major indexes responded to earnings in Europe with Air Liquide, Metro, Siemens Energy, Thyssenkrupp, Heineken and Equinorall reporting before the bell.SocieteGenerale also reported early Wednesday morning, posting a net profit of 470 million euros ($570 million) for the fourth quarter of 2020. The French lender’s shares climbed 3.9% by mid-afternoon. Reacting to Earnings announcement major indexes including UK’s FTSE-100, CAC-40 in France and Germany’s DAX edged higher. In US, Wall Street resumed their February rally, as investors cheered a batch of solid corporate earnings as well as data showing subdued inflation. During the early trading hours, Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 110 points to a record high, while the 30-stock S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Tech Heavy Nasdaq Composite also climbed 0.5%, hitting an all-time high. The Russell 2000 gained 0.5% to another record, bringing the index’s weekly gain to 11%. Many investors view small caps as a proxy for an economic recovery from the pandemic.Twitter surged 13.6% after the social media company beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations. Better-than-expected earnings from Lyft, Cisco Systems, Mattel and Yelp also boosted sentiment on Wall Street.