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LATEST ARTICLES
Weekly SPI Increases by 0.76 Percent
Sep 16, 2019 (MLN): The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 0.76% during the week ended Sep 12, 2019 while the SPI increased by 17.26% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Combined Index was at 125.25 compared to 124.3 on Sep 05, 2019 while the index was recorded at 106.81 a year ago, on Sep 13, 2018
Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 25 items increased, 5 items decreased whereas 21 items registered no change during the week.
The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 0.69% and 0.89%.
The Lowest Income Group witnessed a weekly increase of 0.87% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 0.69%.
On an yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 14.53% and 19.13%.
Yearly SPI for the Lowest Income Group increased by 14.53% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 17.96%.
The average price of Sona urea stood at Rs.1,962 per 50 kg bag which is 4.98% higher than last week’s price and 19.34% higher when compared to last year.
Meanwhile, average Cement price was recorded at Rs.558 per 50 kg bag, which is 1.24% lower than the previous week and 1.93% lower than prices last year.
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SCRA observes net purchase for the eleventh consecutive week
September 16, 2019 (MLN): The overseas investors continued to display preference towards local equity markets for the week ended September 6, 2019, which is also entirely in line with the behavior being exhibited by local investors.
According to a weekly report on SCRA released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the gross sale of securities during the week was recorded at Rs.7.2 billion, which is around 40.1 percent lower than the figures recorded last week. Similarly, the total purchase of securities stood at Rs.7.3 billion, which is 59.8 percent lower than the prior week.
Consequently, the net purchase of securities for the week ended September 06, 2019 clocked in at Rs.45.95 million, i.e. around Rs.5.98 billion lower than last week's numbers.
Over the week, the overall purchase of securities declined by Rs.10.82 billion while the net sale of securities tumbled by Rs.4.84 billion.
Apart from this, the inflow of remittance into these accounts stood at Rs.2.75 billion, while its outflow has been reported at Rs.1.96 billion.
The closing balance of SCRA was recorded at Rs.28.4 billion, which marks a rise of Rs.840.3 million over the week.
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Private sector retires Rs 6.9 billion in a week
September 16, 2019 (MLN): The non-government sector has retired another net sum of Rs.6.9 billion during the week ended September 06, 2019, which brings the cumulative net retirment for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.105.72 billion. The net retirement as of prior week was recorded at Rs.98.82 billion.
According to weekly data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the sector has retired Rs.160.03 billion over the year since the borrowing as of corresponding period of last year was recorded at Rs.54.31 billion.
The non government sector is divided into three broad categories namely, the Private Sector, the Public Sector Enterprises and NBFI. Commercial banks are the main source of financing for the private sector, incuding conventional banks, islamic banks and islamic branches of conventional banks.
This fiscal year, the private sector retired a net sum of Rs.86.62 billion, whereas the PSE's have retired Rs.19.36 billion and NBFI has borrowed Rs.257.72 million.
As we disintegrate the inflows and outflows within the private sector, we see that Conventional Banks were retired a cumulative sum of Rs.83.95 billion, Islamic Banks were retired a net of Rs.17.52 billion and lastly the Islamic branches of Conventional Banks lent Rs.14.86 billion.
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Govt. accumulates another Rs.72 billion loan in a week
September 16, 2019 (MLN): The government of Pakistan has acquired an additional debt of Rs.72.41 billion during the week ended September 06, 2019, which brings its total net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.84.83 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.12.42 billion.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan's weekly estimates in this regard, the government had retired Rs.95.55 billion net, around the same time last year.
The government sector borrowings are divided into three broad categories based on the purpose of loan which are budgetary support, commodity operations and others.
Split three ways between these broad categories, the cumulative net borrowing for budgetary support was Rs.98.9 billion,whereas Rs.13.28 billion were retired off commodity operation and Rs.786.24 million were retired off other miscellaneous operations.
The two biggest source of financing for budgetary support are the State Bank of Pakistan and the Scheduled Banks. This fiscal year, the central bank has been retired a net sum of Rs.354.84 billion by the government, out of which the Federal Government retired Rs.203.53 billion, the Provincial Government retired Rs.139.23 billion, AJK Government retired Rs.9.36 billion, and the GB Government retired Rs.2.72 billion.
On the other hand, the Scheduled Banks have lent out a net total of Rs.453.73 billion out of which the Federal Government borrowed Rs.455.89 billion while the Provincial Government retired Rs.2.15 billion.
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Closing Bell :Oils well that ends well
Sep 16, 2019 (MNL): The domestic equity market closed on a positive note after gaining 447 points and closing at 31,928 points level, all thanks to jump in the international oil prices.
The Index traded in a range of 469.64 points or 1.49 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 31,950.57 and a low of 31,480.93.
Of the 92 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 57 closed up 30 closed down, while 5 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 81.68 million shares.
Sectors propping up the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 225 points, Commercial Banks with 159 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 37 points, Fertilizer with 28 points and Pharmaceuticals with 16 points.
The most points added to the index was by OGDC which contributed 83 points followed by PPL with 75 points, UBL with 55 points, POL with 50 points and HBL with 43 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by Cement with 23 points, Insurance with 10 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 6 points, Engineering with 5 points and Technology & Communication with 1 points.
The most points taken off the index was by HUBC which stripped the index of 25 points followed by LUCK with 23 points, MUREB with 8 points, AICL with 5 points and EFUG with 5 points.
All Share Volume increased by 1.51 Million to 104.61 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.74.38 Billion.
Total companies traded were 345 compared to 340 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 184 closed up, 144 closed down while 17 remained unchanged.
Total trades increased by 1 to 47,651.
Value Traded increased by 0.31 Billion to Rs.4.98 Billion
| Company | Volume |
|---|---|
| D.G. Khan Cement Company | 6,719,000 |
| Oil & Gas Development Company | 6,712,100 |
| Hascol Petroleum | 5,695,500 |
| Unity Foods | 5,693,500 |
| K-Electric | 4,759,000 |
| Pak Elektron | 4,270,500 |
| Maple Leaf Cement Factory | 3,799,500 |
| Worldcall Telecom | 3,728,000 |
| Lotte Chemical Pakistan | 3,683,000 |
| Amreli Steels | 3,133,500 |
| Sector | Volume |
|---|---|
| Cement | 14,980,800 |
| Oil & Gas Exploration Companies | 10,695,220 |
| Oil & Gas Marketing Companies | 10,550,900 |
| Power Generation & Distribution | 8,533,000 |
| Commercial Banks | 8,424,900 |
| Engineering | 7,403,000 |
| Technology & Communication | 6,480,000 |
| Vanaspati & Allied Industries | 5,693,500 |
| Chemical | 5,025,240 |
| Cable & Electrical Goods | 4,403,700 |
Copyright Mettis Link News
Saudi on track to partly restore oil output as market quakes
September 16, 2019: Saudi Arabia is believed to be on track to quickly restore at least a third of its oil production lost to devastating attacks, as it scrambles to soothe market jitters ahead of a mega stock listing.
Oil prices rocketed on Monday after the strikes on Abqaiq -- the world's largest oil processing facility -- and the Khurais oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia knocked out nearly half of the top crude exporter's production.
Seeking to assuage nervous markets, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has said the kingdom would use its vast inventories to partially make up for lost production, and the US also authorized the release of its strategic reserves.
But benchmark Brent crude surged by 20 percent on Monday -- the biggest gain since the 1991 Gulf War -- after US President Donald Trump hinted at a military response to the attacks his administration has blamed on Iran.
The Energy Intelligence specialist newsletter cited industry sources as saying Aramco was "close to restoring as much as 40 percent" of the lost production, or about 2.3 million barrels per day (bdp).
The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the damage estimates as saying the hit facilities would take weeks to return to full production capacity.
APP
SBP maintains policy rate at 13.25%
September 16, 2019 (MLN): The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan at its meeting today, has decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 13.25% for the next two months.
Having noticed the recent monetary easing in some foreign central banks, the SBP has decided to maintain status quo on policy rates and assess the macroeconomic conditions and uncertainties and how it would impact the domestic economy.
The decision reflected the MPC’s view that inflation outcomes have been largely as expected and inflation projections for FY20 have remained unchanged since the last MPC meeting on 16th July, 2019. The MPC also viewed that, based on available information, the current stance of monetary policy was appropriate to bring inflation down to the target range of 5 – 7 percent over the next twenty-four months.
In its last MPC meeting in July, the SBP decided to increase the policy rate by 100bps keeping in view the rising inflationary pressure.
The outcome of the meeting was in line with market expectations, wherein various analysts anticipated the policy rate to remain unchanged due to lower inflation figures, declining current account deficit, stable forex reserves and strengthening PKR.
In reaching this decision, the MPC considered key economic developments since the last MPC meeting, developments in the real, external and fiscal sectors, and the resulting outlook for monetary conditions and inflation.
The MPC also noted that the SBP-IBA Consumer and Business Confidence Surveys conducted during Aug-Sep 2019 show a modest improvement in the outlook for the economy. The outlook for agriculture and the services sectors was largely unchanged from the time of the previous MPC meeting. The agriculture sector growth is expected to improve considerably in FY20 over the last fiscal year while growth in services is expected to moderate gradually. In sum, the MPC continued to expect that economic activity would gradually turn around as business sentiment improves.
Similarly, the external sector continued to show significant improvement with a sizeable reduction of around 32 percent (or 1.5 percent of GDP) in the current account deficit during FY19. The trend continued in the first month of FY20 as well. This, together with the disbursement of program related inflows and activation of the Saudi oil facility, helped to build SBP’s foreign exchange reserves, which as of 6th September 2019, stood at US$ 8.46 billion.
However, recent developments in the fiscal sector had been mixed. On the one hand, revised figures showed that fiscal policy had been considerably more expansionary in FY19 than earlier expected with a primary deficit of 3.5 percent of GDP and an overall fiscal deficit of 8.9 percent of GDP. On the other hand, tax revenues (net of refunds) had grown considerably in July and August of FY20 which suggested that the economic slowdown may not be as pronounced as may have been feared.
The MPC also considered risks to the inflation outlook. On the one hand, inflation could rise above the baseline projections in case of fiscal slippage or other adverse developments. On the other hand, inflation could begin to fall earlier than expected if oil prices decline, aggregate demand slows faster than expected, or the exchange rate appreciates.
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U.S. goods exports to China fell by 7% last year
September 16, 2019: The value of U.S. goods exports to China in 2018 totaled 118 billion U.S. dollars, down 7 percent from the previous year, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC).
"Cities and states across the United States, as well as businesses that pay taxes and employ people there, continue to suffer, especially from loss of sales as a result of punitive tariffs," USCBC President Craig Allen said in a statement.
"Since these data were collected in 2018, the results today are even worse when you include additional rounds of tariffs since January, with more yet to come," Allen said.
The report showed that 265 congressional districts saw lower goods exports volumes in 2018 than in 2017, and another 61 districts saw less than 10 million dollars in export growth in the same period.
Districts dependent on agricultural exports saw sales to China "shrivel" as a result of the ongoing and deepening trade conflicts between the world's two largest economies. Midwestern and Plains districts that export significant quantities of soybeans and other agricultural products were "hit particularly hard," the report said.
Despite the drop, China remains the third largest market for U.S. goods exports after Canada and Mexico. About 1.1 million U.S. jobs are dependent on the exports to China, according to the report.
"Most Americans are not aware of how interdependent the two economies are," Allen said. "We read about increased prices for many consumer goods, but we often don't realize that a drop in demand can eliminate well-paid local jobs."
The USCBC continues to call on both countries to return to the negotiating table to address structural issues in bilateral trade relations and lift punitive tariffs, said the statement.
APP
ICCI for removing tax anomalies in SEZs to attract foreign, local investment
Sep 16, 2019: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Monday urged the government for removing the tax anomalies in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being setup under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to promote local as well as foreign investments in these zones.
In a statement, ICCI President Ahmed Hassan Moughal said local and foreign investors have pinned lot of hopes from SEZs, which were vital for attraction of investment, growth acceleration and jobs creation.
These SEZs would also help on producing the import substitutions, exports promotion and taking the fruits of CPEC to the less developed regions of the country, he added.
He urged the government for taking urgent measures to address the concerns of investors including tax anomalies to make these investment projects successful.
He said SEZs were marketed as tax free zones for 10 years for those investors who would start commercial production by June 2020.
Now the government has reportedly applied 1.5 percent turnover tax on sales in SEZs, which was in violation of the spirit of SEZs Act 2012, he remarked.
The ICCI president said SEZ projects were highly capital intensive due to which the investors needed 2-3 years for reaching the breakeven point.
He said imposing 1.5 percent turnover tax on their sales would act as a discouraging factor for potential investors and should be reviewed forthwith.
He emphasized the government for thoroughly reconsider the pros and cons of this proposal and withdraw this tax on SEZs to improve the confidence of investors so that they could invest in these zones without any concern.
ICCI Senior Vice President Rafat Farid and Vice President Iftikhar Anwar Sethi said that government has initially planned to set up 9 SEZs.
They said SEZs would not be fully operational and beneficial to the country until the potential investors were not prepared to invest in these SEZs for one reason or the other.
APP
Govt releases Rs334.6 million under PSDP 2019-20 for food security projects
Sep 16, 2019: The government has released Rs334.670 million for several agriculture uplift projects under its Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for financial year 2019-20 as against the total allocation of Rs1,2047.516 million.
The amount was released for the completion of several on-going development projects, besides initiating new projects to promote the agriculture and livestock sectors on modern lines for making it profitable by enhancing per-acre crop yield across the country.
According to latest data released by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, by the end of last week of current month, the government had released Rs80 million for promotion of olive cultivation on commercial scale as against the total allocation of Rs 400 million for the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, an amount of Rs60 million was also released for national pesticides resides residues monitoring system in the country, the government had earmarked an amount of Rs300 million for this project in its annual development program for the year 2019-20.
In order to exploit the agriculture and livestock potential in tribal areas of the country, the government had allocated an amount Rs275 million for up-gradation of Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI) to the level of AZRC and establishment of new adaptive cum demonstration institute at Seakach, Wana, South Waziristan Agency, Miranshah, North Waziristan Agencies (FATA) Tank and Matora, Lakki Marwat. The government had released Rs55 million for the above mentioned projects for the development of agriculture and livestock sectors in these areas.
The government had also released Rs30 million for strengthening, up-gradation of agriculture and livestock research system of Arid Zone Research Institute, Umerkot, Sindh as the government had allocated Rs150 million for this project for current financial year.
Under PSDP 2019-20, Rs 20 million released for establishment of plant breeders rights registry and strengthening of DUS examination system and Rs10 million for better cotton initiatives respectively to enhance cotton production in the country as an amount of Rs100 million and Rs50 million had been allocated for both above mentioned projects.
APP
