World Stock Markets.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Pakistan stocks gain nearly 300 points

The stock market once again had a volatile session on Friday and the benchmark index oscillated between red and green zones before ending the week higher by around 300 points. Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to China seemed to have strengthened investor's sentiments due to anticipated good news about financial support during the trip.

Earlier, trading started on a negative note, but a buying spree emerged shortly afterwards, helping the index gain close to 300 points in the first half. Volatility intensified in the second half due to political uncertainty in the wake of protests across the country, which made the index rise and fall multiple times. It closed the day slightly above the 42,000-point mark.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 287.99 points or 0.69 percent to settle at 42,004.09. Overall, trading volumes increased to 292.4 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 245.1 million.

The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.8 billion. Shares of 377 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 253 stocks closed higher, 107 declined and 17 remained unchanged. Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 28.7 million shares, losing Rs1.05 to close at Rs32.15. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 25.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.25 to close at Rs13.32 and TRG Pakistan with 17.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.45 to close at Rs30.53.

US down as Apple falls, trade optimism fades

US stocks snapped a three-day rally on Friday as Apple shares dropped following a disappointing forecast and the White House dampened optimism over US-China trade talks.

Apple Inc tumbled 6.6 percent, sending its market value below $1 trillion at the close, a day after the iPhone maker warned that sales for the crucial holiday quarter may miss expectations. Apple in August had become the first publicly listed US company with a $1 trillion market value.

The forecast dragged down shares of Apple's US suppliers, mostly chipmakers, and pushed the SandP technology sector down 1.9 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 109.91 points, or 0.43 percent, to 25,270.83, the SandP 500 lost 17.31 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,723.06, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 77.06 points, or 1.04 percent, to 7,356.99.

Still, the SandP 500 and Nasdaq registered their biggest weekly percentage gains since May, while the Dow posted its biggest weekly...