Tag: FOREX

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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December 01, 2020 (MLN): Gold rebounded today in global markets as gold price reached $1,801 per ounce, up by $29 while silver was pegged at $23.24 an ounce.

On the domestic front, the price of 24 karat gold, rose by Rs 350 to Rs 109,200 per tola in the bullion market. The price of yellow metal had closed at 108,850 per tola on Monday.

According to the data released by the All Sindh Saraf Jewellers Association, the price of 10-gram gold also increased by Rs 300 to Rs 93,621 against the price of Rs 93,321 reported in the previous session.

Meanwhile, the price of per tola silver and 10-gram silver also witnessed an increase of Rs 20 and Rs 17.15 to clock in at Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,028.80 respectively, the association reported.

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December 01, 2020: Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) has successfully managed to induct 40 independent private power projects (IPPs) of about 17551 MW by attracting an investment of around $ 17 billion so far.

Official sources told APP here that IPPs were around 50 percent of the country's present installed generation capacity.

They said that PPIB attracted leading international/local investors and lenders to the Pakistan Power Sector thus contributed to the development of domestic capital markets.

They said now the organization was also advancing the development of small hydropower projects in the country. The projects were included 700.7 MW Azad Pattan, 1,124 MW Kohala, 102 MW Gulpur, 870 MW Suki Kinari, 720 MW Karot Hydropower Projects. 102 MW Gulpur Hydropower Project had already started operation while 84 MW New Bong Hydropower Project, the first hydro IPP in Pakistan/AJK had been commissioned.

APP

December 01, 2020 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) depreciated by 39 paisa against US Dollar (USD) in today's interbank session as the currency closed the day's trade at PKR 159.82 per USD, against yesterday's closing of PKR 159.42 per USD.

The rupee saw a volatility free session as very little movement was recorded trading in a range of 47 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 159.85 and an intraday Low offer of 159.45.

Within the Open Market, PKR was traded at 159.50/160.30 per USD.

Meanwhile, the currency lost 1.4 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 214.19 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 212.75 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 54 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 191.52 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards close of the session was 6.70/6.90 percent, whereas the 1 week rate was 6.95/7.00 percent.

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