World Stock Markets.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

US stocks rebound after a week of losses

The US benchmark SandP 500 stock index snapped a six-day losing streak on Friday as technology stocks recovered after a week of losses, with investors looking for bargains ahead of the third quarter earnings reporting season.

Even the hard-hit SandP500 energy and financial sectors managed to close the session with slight gains after a late afternoon rally.

The SandP technology index .SPLRCT gained 3.2 percent on the day, showing its strongest one-day gain since March 26, although it still registered its biggest weekly drop since March 23.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 287.16 points, or 1.15 percent, to 25,339.99, the SandP 500 gained 38.76 points, or 1.42 percent, to 2,767.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 167.83 points, or 2.29 percent, to 7,496.89.

The technology sector's biggest boosts were Apple, and Microsoft which rose more than 3.0 percent. Visa and Mastercard both climbed almost 5.0 percent, boosted by strong credit card sales included in bank earnings reports, according to Oakbook's Sampson.

The SandP500's financial sector ended the day up 0.1 percent and the SandP 500 banks subsector .SPXBK closed down 0.4 percent, well above its session low. The biggest drag on the subsector was JPMorgan Chase and Co, which closed down 1.0 percent despite reporting a quarterly profit that beat expectations.

PNC Financial led the percentage losers among bank stocks, with a 5.6 percent drop after the regional bank reported disappointing quarterly loan growth and said it expected only a small improvement in lending this quarter.

The three gainers among banks included Citigroup, which rose 2.0 percent, and Wells Fargo, which eked out a 1.3 percent gain after upbeat results.

Pakistan stocks hammered as KSE-100 loses 880 points

Stocks were hammered on Friday as the KSE-100 index plunged over 950 points in intra-day trading, slipping below the 37,500 mark. It closed the day in the red with some recovery.

Market participants reacted to a sharp dip in the foreign currency reserves held by the central bank, which slipped another $101 million and settled at $8.3 billion. The foreign exchange reserves have been on a downward path for seven successive weeks.

The KSE-100 index remained on a downward trajectory from the moment trading began as selling pressure mounted. At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 880.37 points or 2.29 percent to settle at...