Tag: Economy

Dec 01, 2020: Oil prices fell on Tuesday after an OPEC meeting to decide on production policy failed to reach a consensus and was delayed amid concerns about oversupply and weak demand.

International benchmark Brent crude oil was trading at $47.49 per barrel at 0648 GMT for a 0.81% drop after closing Monday at $47.88 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $44.98 per barrel at the same time for a 0.79% fall after it ended the previous session at $45.34 a barrel.

Oil prices have gained more than 27% in November with rising hopes for a quicker economic and oil demand recovery instilled by the successful corona-virus vaccines. Investors were also waiting for the outcome of the OPEC+ meetings expecting for at least three-month extension of the current production cuts of 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd).

Convened on Monday, the 180th ordinary meeting by OPEC countries failed to reach a consensus and the group agreed to meet again one day later.

Production cuts are supposed to be lowered by around 2 million bpd to 5.8 million bpd as of Jan. 1, 2021 in line with an agreement in April. But experts say OPEC+ meeting on Tuesday was postponed due to some dissenting voices from OPEC ranks. These countries, including the ones with strained economies, are in favor of a higher production level.

Speaking at the opening session of the 180th ordinary meeting by OPEC on Monday, Algerian Energy Minister Abdelmadjid Attar recalled positive COVID-19 vaccine developments and said the effects of the vaccines will likely begin to be significantly apparent in the second half of 2021 as the global deployment of vaccines will take time.

AA/APP

Dec 01, 2020: Exploration and Production (E&P) companies have produced around 8,543,761.66 Barrel (BBL) oil and 64,967.32 Million Cubic Feet (MMCF) gas from five fields of Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from July 2019 to May 2020.

During the 11-month period, the companies extracted 4,893,536 BBL oil and 27,783.97 MMCF gas from the Nashpa field, 142,953.95 BBL oil and 8,273.38 MMCF gas from Manzalai field, 570,420.42 BBL oil 4,322.14 MMCF gas from Makori Deep field, 2,931,241.39 BBL oil 24,507.79 MMCF gas from Makori East field and 5,609.90 BBL oil 80.04 MMCF gas, according to an official document available with APP.

Since 1977, as many as 35 wells had so far been drilled in the Karak district mainly by three E&P companies including Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, MOL and TEX , out of which 11 were exploratory, 24 appraisal and development wells.

APP

December 01, 2020 (MLN): Bulls continued to stay in the driving seat today at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on anticipation of easing CPI for November 20.

According to the closing note by Aba Ali Habib Securities, the market has been sustaining the bullish trend on the back of positive international cues and positive development on the global oil outlook. OPEC+ ministers drop signals that there may be consensus on the extension of current supply cuts well into 2021, which may provide further support to oil prices.

In addition, the cement sector saw a positive trend as participants expect the impact of rising coal prices to be passed onto consumers.

Accordingly, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 596 points and ended the session at 41,665.27 level. This is the highest index close since October 26, 2020

The Index traded in a range of 651.13 points or 1.59 percent of the previous close, showing an intraday high of 41,716.15 and a low of 41,065.02.

Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 84 closed up 10 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 299.84 million shares.

Sectors propping up the index were Power Generation & Distribution with 121 points, Commercial Banks with 78 points, Cement with 54 points, Fertilizer with 54 points and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 36 points.

The most points added to the index was by HUBC which contributed 110 points followed by ENGRO with 32 points, PAKT with 28 points, MEBL with 23 points and UNITY with 20 points.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Insurance with 4 points, Synthetic & Rayon with 1 points, Refinery with 1 points and Modarabas with 1 points.

The most points taken off the index was by JLICL which stripped the index of 11 points followed by NESTLE with 5 points, BAFL with 3 points, SCBPL with 2 points and FML with 2 points.

All Share Volume increased by 101.08 Million to 489.63 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.94.84 Billion.

Total companies traded were 393 compared to 368 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 281 closed up, 84 closed down while 28 remained unchanged.

Total trades increased by 27,936 to 150,135.

Value Traded increased by 5.42 Billion to Rs.19.48 Billion

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December 01, 2020 (MLN): Alongside other financial markets around the globe, Pakistan Stock Market wrapped a cheery month on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index recovered 1,181 points following two consecutive negative months.

The major breakthroughs during the month in the quest for an effective Covid-19 vaccine have strengthened investors’ confidence, as the promising results from vaccine trials has set the stage for a rapid economic recovery next year.

The month started on a bearish note, as the announcement of US electoral results kept the overall global equity markets in to negative territory. However, the announcement of Biden victory recovered earlier losses.

On the domestic front, the factors that rekindled investors’ interest in domestic equities include, lower than expected CPI numbers in October, Industrial Support Package announced by PM that offers additional consumption of electricity to small and medium industries at 50% less rates, the decline in trade deficit by 23%, retainment of Emerging Market Status in MSCI Semi Annual Index Review and increase in the Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) index by 4.81% during July- September FY21.

Moreover, another development responsible for rallying in domestic equities was Current Account Surplus for the fourth consecutive month in October. This coupled with ECC’s direction to prepare a proposal for clearing Petroleum Division’s Circular debt of over Rs 1020 billion within a month and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s intention to provide $10 billion in fresh assistance for various development and policy based projects, provided a major dose of hope for economic recovery.

 Investors’ confidence bolstered further on the back of increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 151% YoY in October, the appreciation of PKR against Dollar and inflow of Workers’ Remittances which remained over $2 billion for the fifth consecutive month in October.

Accordingly, the benchmark index recovered nearly 1,181 points during the said month and closed at the 41,068-mark, up by 2.96% as compared to the previous month’s closing.

Sector-wise, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies, Commercial Banks, Technology & Communication, Chemical and Textile Composite emerged as the best-performing sectors during the month, as they contributed around 517, 444, 331, 64, and 51 points respectively to the benchmark index. To be specific, the scrips of POL (+228), TRG (+218), PPL (+129), UBL (+121), and SYS (+113) turned out to be the most pleasing ones.

On the other hand,  investors remained cautious in the Cement sector, as a result, the sector emerged as the worst performing sector during the month, despite the historical high sales recorded in the month of Oct’20, the raid by the CCP has slumped investors’ return by 3% MoM. According to Shajar Capital, during Nov’20, the scrips of LUCK, DGKC, PIOC, ACPL and MLCF down by 2.53% MoM, 3% MoM, 1% MoM, 4% MoM and 6% MoM respectively compared to Oct’20.

During the month, 55 companies traded in green while 44 landed in the red zone. The All-Share Market Cap increased by nearly USD 1.2 billion, i.e. 2.6% higher than the previous month. However, in terms of PKR, the All-Share Market Cap surged by Rs. 153.88 billion i.e. 2.08% higher as compared to the last month.

Figures released by NCCPL showed that foreign investors sold net USD 48.47 million worth of stocks during the month with foreign corporates doing the bulk of selling @ USD 51.48 million. On the local front, Individual investors purchased USD 33.75 million worth of stocks, followed by USD 12.65 million and USD 10.9 million worth of stocks bought by Local Companies and Insurance Companies respectively. Other significant transactions included USD 10.89 million and USD 3.42 million worth of stocks sold by Mutual Funds and Proprietary Brokers respectively.

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December 1, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan’s exports have surged by 7.2% YoY in November 2020.

Taking to his twitter handle on Tuesday, Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razzaq Dawood said, “ I wish to congratulate our exporters that in these very difficult times with resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Pakistan and globally, our exports have increased by 7.2% in November.”

“We have once again crossed the US$ 2 billion mark per month.” he added.

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