Morning Market Brief 19th Jun. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index had tried to find ground at a rising trend line during last trading session, meanwhile a strong horizontal supportive region is standing ahead between 33,500-33,400pts for current trading session. It's recommended to stay cautious and adopt swing trading with strict stop loss because a volatile session could be witnessed. Index could try to bounce back from its supportive regions while bears would try to add pressure to complete weekly evening shooting star, today's closing below 33,500pts would add more pressure on index because along with confirmation of a weekly evening star index would succeed in sliding below its major supportive region. While on flip side if index would succeed in finding some ground above 33,400pts then an intraday pull back could be witnessed which would try to push index towards 33,860pts & 34,100pts. To initiate short term trades it's recommended to wait for today's closing.

Asian shares and U.S. stock futures wobbled in choppy trade on Friday as lingering concerns about an fresh spike in coronavirus cases offset growing hopes for a quick economic recovery. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS eased 0.06%. U.S. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 moved in and out of the red, and were last up 0.23%. Shares in China .CSI300 rose 0.61%, led by gains in financials and the health care sector, but South Korean stocks .KS11 fell 0.81% due to concern about diplomatic tension with North Korea. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.0%, with the energy sector leading the charge, as oil futures rose in Asia on hopes that output cuts will put a floor under prices. On the whole, markets have been sideswiped this week on fresh contagion concerns, prompting some investors to temper their optimism about how quickly the global economy can recover for the pandemic.Read More...

A Senate panel on Thursday was taken aback when a federal secretary declared that the contract governing affairs of the Gwadar port was “confidential” and its details could not be disclosed publicly. The Senate standing committee on finance led by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek on Wednesday had asked federal Secretary of Maritime Affairs Rizwan Ahmed to share copies of contracts and related documents on award of contracts and sub-contracts regarding Gwadar free zone. Mr Rizwan replied that the documents could not be shared with the Senate committee chairman and read out one paragraph from the agreement which says the contents of the agreement will be kept confidential. The issue has been under discussion at the standing committee for the last three days in the wake of the government’s inclusion of tax concession ordinance in the finance bill 2020. The bill has expired after a one-time extension.Read More...

The federal government on Thursday opened the country’s border with Iran at Taftan to resume trade activities. The border will now remain open seven days a week. With the development, the export of Pakistani mangoes to Iran is now set to resume. Separately, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced a drastic cut in freight charges for export of mangoes to the United Kingdom and rest of Europe. The Ministry of Interior took the decision on the opening of the border with Iran on the intervention of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Agricultural Products which had warned that no delay would be tolerated in the opening of the border with Iran and trade facilitation.Read More...

The government on Thursday vowed greater transparency and lesser reliance on loans during the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). CPEC Authority Chairman and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information retired Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said the Phase-II of CPEC would be started after “full preparation and in an institutional manner”, while ensuring “full transparency”. He was speaking at the signing ceremony of business cooperation agreements between leading Chinese entrepreneurs and Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) in Taxila for revamping of the facility. Pakistan and China had agreed in April on the launching of the second phase of CPEC during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing for attending a meeting of Belt and Road Forum.Read More...

In a move aimed at saving the education system from further disruption amid the coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the authorities concerned on Thursday to thrash out a strategy to restore academic activities in the country in consultation with provincial governments. “Formulate a joint strategy in collaboration with the provincial education ministers regarding the future teaching process,” the prime minister said during a meeting to assess the disruption caused to the education system by the pandemic. The meeting also reviewed the progress made so far for implementation of the government’s plan to introduce a uniform curriculum in the country.Read More...