Morning Market Brief 17th Dec. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index has faced rejection from resistant trend line of its bullish price channel in last days and have tried to continue its bullish sentiment during last trading session. As of now it's expected that index would try to bounce back in bullish direction during current trading session therefore buying on dip would be beneficial in case index would take a dip at start of the session. It's expected that index would try to target its resistant trend line once again during current trading session and a bullish rally could be witnessed during the day. For day trading it's recommended to start buying start of the day and off load these positions around 43,700pts before day end, it's recommended to stay cautious until index would not succeed in closing above 44,200pts on daily chart. Closing above 43,700pts on daily chart would open doors for 44,200pts and 44,660pts or 45,000pts in coming days where expansion of breakout of its previous triangle would complete. For current trading session index have supportive regions ahead at 43,000pts which would be followed by 42,860pts and index would remain bullish until it would not succeed in penetration below 42,500pts. Daily momentum indicators have entered into an uncertain region, mean while index is standing at a crucial level on monthly and weekly charts therefore it's recommended to stay cautious and post trailing stop loss on existing long positions. on weekly chart index is trying to complete a cup and handle formation which is a continuity pattern for previous bullish rally but it depends on this week's closing that either index would continue its bullish sentiment or a correction would be witnessed. On longer run index would be considered bullish until it would not succeed in closing below 41,500pts or 41,000pts.

Asian stocks perched near record heights, the dollar languished at two-year lows and oil prices stood at their strongest since March on Thursday, as monetary support and the hope of fiscal stimulus in the United States put traders in a festive mood.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% to touch an all-time high. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2%, though both fell back to flat while investors waited for U.S. lawmakers to agree on stimulus. The risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars climbed to multi-year tops with the euro not far behind, and U.S. stock futures extended gains from Wednesday. Brent crude oil futures, a proxy for global energy consumption and growth, rose 0.7% to $51.45 a barrel, the highest level since early March - before over-production fears and virus worries pushed oil prices off a cliff.Read More...

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday for the second time has deferred the administrative and financing framework for the Karachi transformation package. The ECC, which was chaired Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, has deferred the Karachi transformation package. Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced the Rs1.1 trillion package in the first week of September. However, the government could not give the necessary approvals for its execution. Earlier, on December 2, 2020, the ECC had deferred the approval till next meeting. But, the top economic decisions making body of the country has once again failed to approve the Karachi transformation package.Read More...

While rigorously pursuing its objective of providing ease of doing business, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has established its first-ever Business Centre for swift incorporation of companies and to respond investor’s requests for information and queries instantly. The Business Centre is located at NICL Building 63, Islamabad. The Business Centre is well equipped with the professional team and latest technology to promptly process the company’s incorporation applications, having registered office/correspondence address within the jurisdiction of CRO, Islamabad. The Business Centre is expected to improve the overall user experience with SECP. The establishment of the Business Centre is a continuation of SECP’s ambitious reform agenda to improve ease of doing business in Pakistan. Read More...

Minister for Industries & Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal chaired a meeting of the task force for price control at Civil Secretariat on Wednesday to review the prices of essential items in the market. The minister expressed concerns over an increase in the prices of meat, eggs and ginger. He inquired that what steps have been taken by the livestock department to stabilize the prices of meat and eggs in the market. The livestock officials failed to give a reasonable reply and the minister directed to review the policy of storing eggs. He further directed the agriculture department should inform in advance about the situation of agricultural commodities and keep a vigilant eye on the prices of fruits, vegetables, flour and sugar. Read More...

Pakistan and World Bank on Wednesday have signed a loan agreement for “Punjab Resource Improvement and Digital Effectiveness Programme (PRIDE)” worth $304 million. Ministry of Economic Affairs Secretary Noor Ahmed, signed the loan agreement on behalf of the Government of Pakistan while the representative of Government of Punjab signed the operational agreement. World Bank Country Director Mr Najy Benhassine signed the programme agreements on behalf of the World Bank. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar witnessed the signing ceremony of loan agreement held in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. On the occasion, the Minister for Economic Affairs reiterated the commitment of his government to improve fiscal management by augmentation of domestic revenues and to enhance spending on pro-people development initiatives. The Minister lauded strategy of the Punjab Government in this respect.Read More...