Morning Market Brief 18th May 2022

Technical Overview

The Benchmark KSE100 index had succeeded in maintaining above supportive trend line of its descending wedge's supportive trend line since last five trading sessions and it can be said that index is setting a mid-cycle accumulation phase here. As of now it's expected that index would try to maintain support above same region and overall a volatile session would be witnessed, initially index seems to open with some pressure but later on a recovery rally would be witnessed before day end therefore it's recommended to stay cautious and start buying on dip with strict stop loss. Initially index would try to establish ground between 42,400pts-42,250pts where its being supported by a horizontal supportive region along with a descend trend line, while breakout below this region would call for 41,860pts. On flip side index would try to target 43,000pts initially after pull back and if it would succeed in closing above this region on hourly chart then next target would be 43,200pts and 43,500pts. Overall index would remain under pressure as long as its trading below 43,500pts and breakout above this region on daily closing basis would start pushing index towards 44,760pts. It's recommended to post strict stop loss at 41,860pts for existing long positions because closing below this region would open doors for a bearish rally in coming days.

Japan's GDP shrinks as surging costs raise spectre of deeper downturn

Japan's economy shrank for the first time in two quarters in the January-March period as COVID-19 curbs hit the service sector and surging commodity prices created new pressures, raising concerns about a protracted downturn.The decline presents a challenge for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's drive to achieve growth and wealth distribution under his "new capitalism" agenda, stoking fears of stagflation - a mix of tepid growth and rising inflation.The world's No. 3 economy fell at an annualised rate of 1.0% in January-March from the previous quarter, gross domestic product figures showed, slower than a 1.8% contraction expected by economists. That translated into a quarterly drop of 0.2%, the Cabinet Office data showed, versus market forecasts for a 0.4% drop.Read More...

Business News

SSC Annual Exams Begins In Hyderabad

The annual examinations of Secondary School Certificate Part-I and Part-II began from Tuesday in all 270 examination centres of the ten districts Hyderabad Division under poor arrangements of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Hyderabad.The Controller of Examinations BISE Hyderabad Masroor Ahmed Zai had claimed that all arrangements had been finalized to conduct the annual examinations in an adequate manner, but the poor management exposed his claims on the first day as the candidates.suffered hardship to resolve their scheduled papers.The candidates along with their parents were seen gathered at large till late Monday night in the premises of BISE Hyderabad Secretariat to collect admit cards for appearance in the examination centres. In many examination centres, the candidates resolved their papers without having electricity and cold water facilities even without benches in examination centres.Read More...

Govt Working Hard To Eliminate Child Labour, Murad Tells EU Delegation

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and a high-powered delegation of European Union led by Thomas Deiler, the charge d’Affaires, discussed Talent Partnership Program (TPP) and other issues in their meeting held at CM House on Tuesday. The TPP is being launched to discourage illegal immigration to rich countries by development a framework to exchange skilled and non-skilled labour under an agreement to be inked through EU.The meeting was attended by CM Advisor on Investment Qasim Naveed, chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Special Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh.The EU delegation members included political officers, Ms Dilarde Teilane, Eric Hahn EMLO and Trade Advisor Husnain Iftakhar. The head of the delegation told the chief minister that the EU has envisaged a program to stop illegal immigration under which human rights are trampled. Under the program, the EU would make an employment arrangement in some South African, European including France and countries for the people of Pakistan. Under the program skilled and unskilled workers would be provided employment opportunities.Read More...

Stocks manage modest gains in range-bound trading

The national bourse witnessed range-bound activity on Tuesday owing to the investors’ concerns over the economic outlook.JS Global said the stock market is expected to stay range-bound in coming sessions, adding that investors should take advantage of any opportunity to buy cement and textile sector shares.According to Topline Securities, market participants remained on the sidelines as they expected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to address the nation and announce “tough decisions” to arrest the deterioration on the macroeconomic front.As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,726.06 points, up 58.74 points or 0.14 per cent from a day ago.Read More...

PM Shehbaz cuts all-important ECC down to size

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has cut down the size the coalition government’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet by drastically reducing its strength from 12 to five.Led by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail of the PML-N, the all-important committee of the cabinet that normally meets on a weekly basis to take day-to-day decisions on economic matters has representation from only two parties – PML-N and PPP – of the coalition that comprises eight parties, excluding independents.According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the prime minister constituted the ECC in terms of rule 17(2) of the Rules of Business 1973. Besides the finance minister, other members of the committee included Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar and Industries Minister Makhdoom Murtaza Mehmood from the PPP, and National Food Security Minister Riaz Pirzada and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal from the PML-N.Read More...