Hong Kong, Feb 22 (AFP/APP):Hong Kong stocks finished Thursday morning more than one percent lower following the release of Federal Reserve minutes that fanned expectations US interest rates will rise further than previously expected.
The Hang Seng Index lost 1.07 percent, or 336.12 points, to sit at 31,095.77 by the break.
Dec 09, 2019 (MLN): The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group decreased by 0.83% during the week ended Dec 05, 2019 while the SPI increased by 18.57% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Combined Index was at 130.77 compared to 131.87 on Nov 28, 2019 while the index was recorded at 110.29 a year ago, on Dec 06, 2018
Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 16 items increased, 10 items decreased whereas 25 items registered no change during the week.
The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI decreased across all quantiles ranging between 1.18% and 0.72%.
The Lowest Income Group witnessed a weekly decrease of 1.18% while the highest income group recorded a decrease of 0.72%.
On an yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 17.73% and 21.58%.
Yearly SPI for the Lowest Income Group increased by 18.99% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 17.73%.
The average price of Sona urea stood at Rs.2007 per 50 kg bag which is 0.65% higher than last week’s price and 13.39% higher when compared to last year.
Meanwhile, average Cement price was recorded at Rs.569 per 50 kg bag, which is 1.22% lower than the previous week and 5.95% lower than prices last year.
Copyright Mettis Link News
December 9, 2019: The price of 24 karat gold on Monday decreased by Rs. 100 and was traded at Rs. 84,400 per tola, against Rs. 84,500 on last trading day, Karachi Sarafa Association reported.
Likewise, the price of 10 gram gold declined by Rs 86 and was traded at Rs. 72,359 against last closing of Rs. 72,445.
The price of silver remained stable and was traded at Rs. 980 per tola while 10 gram silver was traded at Rs. 840.20.
In international market, the price of per ounce gold increased by $4 and was traded at $1,464 against closing of $1,460 on last trading day.
APP
December 9, 2019 (MLN): The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the first day of the week on a negative note. However, the stock market continued to oscillate between red and green districts in today's session, and ultimately settled at 40,442 level by losing 289 points as investors started booking profit, thus dragging the market down and erasing gains.
The Index traded in a range of 608.69 points or 1.49 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 40,922.43 and a low of 40,313.74.
Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 33 closed up 61 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 217.62 million shares.
Sector wise, the index was let down by Commercial Banks with 152 points, Cement with 64 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 58 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 45 points and Automobile Assembler with 27 points.
The most points taken off the index was by UBL which stripped the index of 60 points followed by HBL with 37 points, LUCK with 35 points, PSO with 33 points and HUBC with 30 points.
Sectors propping up the index were Fertilizer with 27 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 24 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 22 points, Chemical with 8 points and Pharmaceuticals with 7 points.
The most points added to the index was by ENGRO which contributed 23 points followed by NESTLE with 18 points, OGDC with 13 points, MARI with 10 points and EPCL with 8 points.
All Share Volume decreased by 96.84 Million to 320.08 Million Shares. Market Cap decreased by Rs.27.00 Billion.
Total companies traded were 388 compared to 382 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 147 closed up, 223 closed down while 18 remained unchanged.
Total trades decreased by 17,539 to 105,749.
Value Traded decreased by 3.78 Billion to Rs.11.40 Billion
| Company | Volume |
|---|---|
| Unity Foods | 26,850,000 |
| Maple Leaf Cement Factory | 18,773,000 |
| Lotte Chemical Pakistan | 15,396,500 |
| Pak Elektron | 14,189,000 |
| Hascol Petroleum | 12,254,500 |
| The Bank of Punjab | 10,900,000 |
| Fauji Cement Company | 10,550,500 |
| Fauji Foods | 9,650,500 |
| K-Electric | 9,597,500 |
| Pakistan International Bulk Terminal | 7,516,500 |
| Sector | Volume |
|---|---|
| Cement | 44,315,100 |
| Chemical | 37,450,150 |
| Technology & Communication | 28,777,500 |
| Oil & Gas Marketing Companies | 27,363,000 |
| Vanaspati & Allied Industries | 26,856,400 |
| Commercial Banks | 23,063,900 |
| Cable & Electrical Goods | 14,484,450 |
| Transport | 14,417,000 |
| Food & Personal Care Products | 13,397,780 |
| Power Generation & Distribution | 13,280,500 |
Copyright Mettis Link News
December 09, 2019: The powerful OPEC group of oil producers and its allies reached a deal Friday to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day in a bid to stem prices which have been under pressure from abundant reserves and weak global economic growth.
Friday's so-called OPEC+ meeting included Russia, the world's second-largest oil producer and not a member of the cartel.
It ended with a deal for a cut effective as of January 1 which sets an output target 1.7 million barrels per day lower than October 2018 levels, with Saudi Arabia and Russia making almost half the additional reductions between them.
In a surprise move, the bloc also announced that several participating countries, "mainly Saudi Arabia", would make additional voluntary cuts bringing the overall cut to more than 2.1 million barrels per day.
World oil prices surged in response, with US benchmark WTI and its European counterpart Brent both rising two percent in an initial reaction before settling down at levels around 1.3 percent higher on the day in the late European afternoon.
On Thursday, a meeting of OPEC ministers had run late into the evening without a deal.
Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdelaziz Ben Salman, who was at his first meeting in the post, said first-day talks lasting six hours saw delegations "labouring... until 11 o'clock in the evening, squashing their heads, squeezing their brains" in search of an agreement.
Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban told reporters Friday that "what will happen during the first quarter (of 2020) will be assessed during an extraordinary meeting" of OPEC and its partners in early March.
He held out the prospect that the cuts could even be extended until the end of 2020 but that it was "too early to say now".
- Quota 'religion' - Earlier, Prince Abdulaziz hinted at Saudi irritation that not all countries have been sticking to the production quotas agreed under the current deal.
While Saudi Arabia has voluntarily pumped below its quota other producers -- including Russia, Iraq and Nigeria -- had been exceeding theirs.
"Like religion, if you are a believer you have to practise, without practice you are a non-believer," Prince Abdulaziz said, stressing the importance of "further conformity" if OPEC were to achieve its goals.
Analyst David Madden at CMC Markets said that "the usual infighting of OPEC continues, as the Saudis call for greater compliance with the group target, while the likes of Iraq have been overproducing".
According to Caroline Bain at Capital Economics, "the key uncertainty facing the oil market now is OPEC+ supply from April".
She added that due to a subdued outlook for global growth, "our best guess is that the cuts will be extended for the remainder of the year".
Saudi Arabia in particular has an interest in underpinning crude prices in the wake of its initial public offer (IPO) of shares in state-owned oil giant Aramco.
The group, which alone accounts for around 10 percent of the world's crude oil, said Thursday it had raised $25.6 billion in the world's biggest stock sale ever.
The IPO puts Aramco's total value at $1.7 trillion, well ahead of Apple.
Despite the glitzy headlines, OPEC remains under pressure from factors that include a trade war that has curbed the oil-thirsty Chinese economy, and weak activity across Europe.
Meanwhile, oil production in the United States, which became the world's biggest producer in 2018, Brazil and Canada are at record levels, and Norway plans to increase its production as well.
For the second day in a row the meeting was accompanied by a protest from climate change activists on Friday.
Around a hundred people marched to OPEC's headquarters with banners demanding "Keep it in the ground" and representations of humanity and nature standing on blocks of ice in mock gallows.
AFP/APP
December 9, 2019 (MLN): Savings mobilisation by the National Savings Schemes (NSS) during July-Oct 2019 clocked in at Rs 80.97 billion, 19% higher than the amount of savings mobilised in July- Oct 2018.
According to the latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) today, savings mobilised under the NSS in October alone amounted to Rs 95.75 billion, which is 6 times higher than the corresponding figure for the same month of 2018-19.
During the first 4 months of the current fiscal year, most of the incremental mobilisation went into Defence Saving Certificates (Rs 85.99 billion) and Regular Income Certificates (Rs 62 billion). While the investment in other saving schemes recorded at Rs 98.44 billion.
On the contrary, holdings in Prize Bonds and Special Saving Certificates witnessed the withdrawal of Rs 157.46 billion and Rs 8 billion respectively during 4MFY20.
While in the month of October, most of the investment was witnessed in Regular Income Certificates (Rs 36.25 billion).
Copyright Mettis Link News
