Morning Market Brief 19th Oct. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index is moving downward after facing rejection from supportive trend line of its previous bullish price channel since last week. As of now it's being capped by a descending trend line as well and its moving downward after facing rejection from its correction levels on smaller time frames. As of now it's expected that index would try to take a spike initially but later on if it would not succeed in closing above 40,300pts or 40,450pts then it would be pushed back towards neutral zone till day end. Therefore selling on strength could be beneficial for day trading with strict stop loss of 40,760pts. Daily momentum indicators are still bearish and it seems that index would start a new bearish journey till day end today. In case of rejection from its resistant regions index would start sliding towards 40,000pts and 39,700pts while breakout below that region would call a new bearish rally towards 39,500pts and 39,250pts. Currently it's recommended to keep focusing on daily closing because if index would not succeed in recovering above 40,600pts on daily chart then it would got a push for bearish expansion of its daily triangle.

Asian markets started higher on Monday, buoyed by hopes of a U.S fiscal package before the U.S. presidential elections next month and expectations of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year, though the mood was still cautious as infections jump. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.26% for its second straight day of gains. The index has risen in eight of the last 10 sessions amid a rally in risk assets buoyed by hopes of a coronavirus vaccine and expectations of a so called “blue wave”, which would see the Democrats claim victory in November’s elections. Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed about 1% while South Korea's KOSPI and Australian shares .AXJO were up 0.7% each. New Zealand .NZ50 was a tad lower after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a second term at elections over the weekend, having risen over the week in anticipation of such a result.Read More...

The government has released funds amounting to Rs1,329.928 million during the first quarter of the current fiscal year to execute eight petroleum projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2020-21) against the total allocation of Rs1,786.160 million. According to the official data, the government has authorized/disbursed an amount of Rs 357.232 for the projects as of October 16. As per the to the PSDP details, the government has earmarked an amount of Rs 1,662.684 million for five ongoing projects, out of which Rs 100 million would be spent in expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Corehouse (PETCORE), Rs 6.524 million for exploration and evaluation of coal in Nosham and Bahlol areas of Balochistan.Read More...

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Power Tabish Gauhar has revealed that Prime Minister Imran Khan will personally promise the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a time-bound road map for power sector reforms in return for a freeze on the tariff increase — in fact, lower flat rates for the industrial and SME sectors to spur economic activity and absorb surplus capacity. The prime minister has had a series of meetings on this issue over the last couple of weeks. Mr Gauhar has recently replaced Shahzad Qasim, his former senior colleague at AES Corporation.Read More...

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet is meeting today (Monday) to finalise the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat for 2020-21. The ECC will consider two point agenda including minimum support price (MSP) of Wheat Crop 2020-21 and Procedure for registration under concessionary regime of electricity, RLNG and gas under export Oriented Sectors (Erstwhile Zero rated Sectors), official documents available with The Nation reveal. A summary for the minimum support price of Wheat which was deferred by the ECC last week is again coming for approval. Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MoNFSR) had recommended for increasing support price of wheat from the previous Rs1,400 to Rs1,745 per 40 kg for the upcoming crop.Read More...

Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports have increased by 2.92 percent in the first quarter (July to September) of the current fiscal year. The country has exported textile and clothing worth $3.47 billion in July to September period of the year 2020-21 as against $3.37 billion in the same period of the last year, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Meanwhile, the textile and clothing exports have shown handsome growth of 11.3 percent and were recorded at $1.19 billion in the month of September. The exports have rebounded after showing decline in last few months. As a result of Covid-19, the demand for country’s exports has collapsed during the last few months.Read More...