Morning Market Brief 19th Feb. 2021

The Benchmark KSE100 index continued its bearish journey during last trading session and have created an evening shooting star on daily chart during last trading session, meanwhile hourly and daily momentum indicators once again entered into negative zone therefore it's expected that index would take a dip again during current trading session to retest its supportive regions. It's expected that index would try to establish ground above its daily double bottoms but today's closing in negative zone would be considered a confirmation of daily evening star. Initially index would try to target 45,800pts while breakout below this region would call for 45,550pts where a daily double bottom would try to push index back for an intraday recovery. Impact of daily evening star would start looming if index would succeed in sliding below 46,000pts at day end today while closing below 45,800pts would recall impact of previous weekly bearish engulfing and index would enter into corrective mode. It's recommended to stay cautious because index may show some volatile moves during current trading session and a see saw move may would be witnessed during both trading sessions of the day. In case of reversal from its supportive regions index would face initial resistance at 46,450pts which would be followed by 46,700pts and 46,900pts where index may face some serious pressure. An intraday recovery could be expected till day end after a dip during current trading session but it's recommended to wait for weekly closing before initiating new positions for short term trading.

Stocks on Wall Street closed lower on Thursday as investors shifted out of big technology names, while an unexpected rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims pointed to a fragile recovery in the labor market. Shares of Apple Inc, Tesla Inc and Facebook Inc weighed the most on both the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119.68 points, or 0.38%, to 31,493.34, the S&P 500 lost 17.36 points, or 0.44%, to 3,913.97 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 100.14 points, or 0.72%, to 13,865.36. Concerns over a rising inflation outlook have pushed investors to book profits on stocks with high valuations in the S&P 500 technology and communications services sectors, which have underpinned a 76% rise in the S&P 500 since its March 2020 lows.Read More...

National Finance Commission (NFC) on Thursday formulated seven sub-groups with specific tasks on the basis of Terms of Reference (TORs) of the Commission with the direction to present recommendations before the august forum in due course of time. Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the inaugural meeting of the 10th NFC at the Finance Division. Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Finance Minister Punjab Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Finance Minister KP Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra, Finance Minister Balochistan Zahoor Ahmed Buledi and non ex-officio members including Tariq Bajwa (Punjab), Musharaf Rasul Cyan (KP), Dr. Kasier Bengali (Balochistan), Dr. Asad Sayeed (Sindh) and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance/ Finance Departments of provinces participated in the meeting.Read More...

To resolve the issues related to K-Electric’s payables and receivables through arbitration, the KE has submitted its TORs to the federal government and dropped its early demand of “the principle of reciprocity” and has also accepted that arbitration may take place in Pakistan, rather than in London. The Ministry of Energy has yet to respond to the TORs submitted by the KE regarding the arbitration in the issues related to company’s payables and receivables, officials’ source told The Nation. In continuation of the government’s now-desperate efforts to resolve the long-standing issues related to K-Electric’s payables and receivables, the KE has agreed to drop “the principle of reciprocity” contained within its previous TORs and has also accepted that arbitration may take place in Pakistan, rather than in London. Read More...

Petroleum Division has completed dualization of the White Oil Pipeline (WOP), from Karachi to Sheikhupura, for smooth supply of petrol and diesel to oil marketing companies (OMCs) and reducing reliance on traditional mode of transportation through tankers. “Currently, the pipeline is in testing phase and will be operational soon,” a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP. The pipeline, he said, that was previously used to move diesel from Karachi to Sheikhupura would be transporting both diesel and petrol in batches after the dualized line was made operational.Read More...

Prime Minister Imran Khan was apprised on Thursday that economic activities worth over Rs1.76 trillion will be generated in the country owing to an investment of Rs353 billion in the housing sector alone in Punjab. “Investment of Rs353.43bn in the construction sector projects in Punjab would generate economic activities worth Rs1,767.15bn and create 315,678 job opportunities,” an official told a meeting on housing and construction presided over by the prime minister. Mr Khan was briefed on the promotion of construction activities in the country and the fast pace process of approvals by the provincial governments.Read More...