Morning Market Brief 12th Feb. 2021

The Benchmark KSE100 index is facing resistance from a resistant trend line since last week and have given bearish breakout of its bullish price channel on hourly chart during last trading session. Mean while daily and hourly momentum indicators are still in bearish mode and it's expected that index would face some pressure during current trading session and if index would succeed in maintaining below 46,385pts till day end today then a bearish engulfing pattern would take place on weekly chart which would ignite bearish sentiment for coming days. For current trading session it's recommended to stay cautious and start selling on strength with strict stop loss of 46,500pts, it's expected that index would initially slide towards 45,700pts where a strong horizontal supportive region would try to support index against current bullish momentum but breakout below this region would call for 45,500pts, short term trend would changed towards bearish side once index would succeed in closing below 45,500pts on daily or weekly chart. While on flip side index would face initial resistance at 46,400pts which would be followed by 46,700pts. Index have entered lower band of its daily bollinger band after a flat & squeezed week therefore it's expected that if index would not succeed in recovering above 46,260pts during current trading session then it would move further downward for a deeper correction.

Asian shares hovered just below a record high on Friday as mixed U.S. economic data caused some investors to show restraint after a global stock market rally pushed many bourses to dizzying heights. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.03%, trading just shy of an all-time high reached in the previous session. Australian stocks lost 0.31%. Shares in Tokyo fell 0.32%, pulling back from 30-year highs. Futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.12%. Markets in Greater China and most of Southeast Asia are closed on Friday for the Lunar New Year holiday. China’s stock and bond markets, foreign exchange and commodity futures markets are closed through Feb. 17 for the holiday.The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, fell 0.12% on Friday, also pulling back from a record high. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 eked out gains of 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.02%.Read More...

The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) Thursday endorsed the proposed draft National Electricity Policy 2021, directing the Power Division to incorporate the agreed recommendations and submit the same to the Cabinet and CCI for final approval. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) was held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar here. The meeting was informed that the proposed National Electricity Policy 2021 was aimed at ensuring universal access of electricity through a self-sustainable power sector, developed and premised on optimal utilization of indigenous resources; integrated planning approach; efficient and liquid market design; and, affordable and environment friendly outcome for the consumers.Read More...

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s Policy Board on Thursday decided to establish ‘Tax Policy Unit’ to work out policy recommendations for domestic tax collection on the lines of the National Tariff Commission, which operates under the Ministry of Commerce. Tax Policy Unit would be under the administrative control of the Finance Division. A new setup would be created that will include members from FBR and also engage fiscal and economic experts from academia, think tanks and private sector to present holistic proposals for mobilising revenue generation with greater autonomy.Read More...

The Com­pe­tition Commission of Pak­istan (CCP) on Thursday im­­p­osed a Rs150 million penalty on a pharmaceutical company for deceptive marketing and misleading advertising of one of its products. The order, passed by a CCP bench comprising chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan and member Bushra Naz Malik, said that marketing claims by the pharmaceutical firm can potentially dec­eive consumers with respect to the characteristics, formulation and intended use of tablet Strepsils. The commission said that the company’s marketing had deceived the general public into perceiving that Strepsils was still a medicated sore throat remedy.Read More...

Pakistan’s e-commerce market size posted a growth of over 35 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021 to Rs96 billion compared to Rs71bn over the corresponding period of last year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday. The data was shared in the fourth meeting of National e-Commerce Council (NeCC) chaired by Commerce Adviser Razak Dawood and attended by representatives of the public and private sectors. The meeting was informed that e-Commerce merchants with prepayment have been increased to 2,164 from 1,410 in the past 12 months. The NeCC is a body of representatives from the public and private sector, constituted under the National E-commerce Policy approved by the federal cabinet in Oct 2019.Read More...