May 12, 2019 (MLN): Persistently, closing its 6th consecutive week on a negative note, the local equity market seems to be performing at its worst with volumes continuing to fall.
During the outgoing week, KSE-100 index registered a loss of 1,406 points (3.9%WoW) and closed at 34,717 points index level due to uncertainty on economic and political front. As the talks between government and IMF are in the final round, therefore, the concerns of further interest rate hikes, depreciation of the PKR and fiscal consolidation measures such as, revision in energy prices, withdrawal of subsidies/tax concessions etc., kept the investment sentiment negative.
In addition, forthcoming important meetings of MSCI index review and FATF kept stock market under pressure.
Furthermore, the past week brought along a series of economic events both in terms of data releases and developments in public policy.
On Friday, IMF team reached the Finance Ministry to hold final round of talks with the government. According to the Finance ministry, the consultations are expected to continue over the weekend.
On Thursday, the 101st meeting of the National Accounts Committee to review the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was held, according to which, the provisional growth of GDP for the year 2018-19 has been estimated at 3.3 percent. The growth of the agricultural, industrial and services sectors is 0.85%, 1.4% and 4.7% respectively.
Meanwhile, the same day, OGRA notified revised prices of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) for the SNGPL and SSGC for the current month. As per which, there is Us$0.13 per mmbtu reduction in sale price of imported RLNG on the system of SSGC for the month of May as compared to April 2019. The new price of the RLNG for SSGC system has been fixed at $ 10.38 per mmbtu.
On Thursday, the Government of Pakistan issued a notification informing about the appointment of Mr. Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi as Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on honorary basis / pro bono for a period of two years with immediate effect.
On Wednesday, the SBP conducted an auction in which it sold Treasury Bills worth Rs.603.286 billion for three months. Cut off Yields for the 3-month MTB increased by 26 basis points to 11.2491 percent from 10.9799 percent in the previous auction.
On Tuesday, advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said under the recently signed China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement-II (CPFTA) Pakistan would get $6.5 billion annual share of total Chinese imports of $64 billion.
On Monday, in a notification issued by the Finance Division, Dr. Reza Baqir appointed as Governor SBP for a period of three years from the date he assumes the office after removal of his predecessor Tariq Bajwa.
Moreover, the statistical data released this week apprising the economic standing of the country are listed below:
- As many as 10.7 million bales of cotton arrived at a number of ginneries all over Pakistan as of May 1, 2019. However, this quantity is short by approximately 7% as compared to arrival of 11.5 million bales recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
- Overseas Pakistanis remitted USD 1.78 billion in the month of April 2019 compared to USD 1.75 billion in March 2019 showing an increase of USD 33.10 million over the previous month.
- The net purchase of securities via SCRA for the week ended May 03, 2019 clocked in at Rs.575 million, i.e. around Rs.999 million lower than last week's numbers.
- Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 229.80 Million or 1.46% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 15,972.60 Million on May 03, 2019.
- The country's exports to Western European countries have increased by 1.32% to $2.56 billion in first three quarters (July-March) of the year 2018-19 against the exports of $2.52 billion during same period of the preceding year.
- The government sector of Pakistan has borrowed a net sum of Rs. 908 billion from various sources as of April 26, 2019.
- The non-government sector has accumulated a total net debt of Rs. 894.8 billion during ongoing fiscal year (FY19) as of April 26, 2019, which is 37% higher than the net borrowed amount of Rs 652.6 billion in the same period last year.
- Pak Rupee's Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) increased by 1.03 percent in March 2019 to a provisional value of 104.407 from the revised value of 103.346 in February 2019.
- The exports of spices earned $68.445 million for the country during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2018-19), showing an increase of 14.65 percent when compared to the exports of $59.689 million during the same period of last year.
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