Morning Market Brief 20th May. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index still have not been succeeded in closing above its resistant regions since last two weeks and its moving below supportive trend line of its rising wedge and it faced rejection from same trend line for third time during last trading session and have moved downward after getting resistance from a strong horizontal resistant region, today it's expected that it would face resistance from a descending trend line at 34,400pts as well meanwhile a strong horizontal resistant region at 34,530pts would also try to push index downward in case of any bullish spike. It's recommended to stay cautious and post trailing stop loss on existing long positions. while closing above 34,530pts would call for 35,200pts. It seems that index is losing its strength and if it would not succeed in giving a clear breakout of its resistant regions this week then in next week some serious pressure could be witnessed.

While on flip side index would try to find ground at 33,860pts and 33,500pts in case of any bearish pressure and a tripple top formation would take place if index would not succeed in closing above 34,500 during current trading session.

Asian stocks struggled to extend the week’s rally on Wednesday and gold and bonds firmed as a sceptical press report dented some hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine and concerns about bumps in the global recovery from the pandemic returned. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat. The risk-sensitive Australian dollar retreated from an overnight two-month high and safe-haven demand drove U.S. Treasury yields back under 0.7%. The moves follow a downbeat end to the day on Wall Street, after a report from medical news website STAT cast doubt over positive early results from a Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccine trial. The report said the results, which had rallied global stocks this week, lacked detail. Chinese stocks began the day a little lower and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.1%. Australia’s benchmark was flat while a soft yen helped the Nikkei 0.7% higher.Read More...

Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday placed on review for downgrade both local and foreign currency deposits highlighting the government’s weakening capacity to support banks in case of need. In a statement, the New York-based rating agency said it placed the B3 long-term local-currency deposit ratings of the Allied Bank Ltd (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd. (HBL), MCB Bank Ltd (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Ltd (UBL) on review. It said the banks’ foreign currency deposit ratings and baseline credit assessments were also placed on review for downgrade. The rating actions follow Moody’s decision to place the Pakistan’s B3 issuer and senior unsecured ratings on review for downgrade on May 14.Read More...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million emergency assistance loan to strengthen Pakistan’s public health response to the coronavirus pandemic and help meet basic needs of vulnerable and poor segments of society. The project will support purchase of medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospitals and their frontline health workers, upgrading of medical facilities and training of health workers. The project also involves purchase of vehicles to strengthen rescue capacity in remote border areas and improve Covid-19 awareness among marginal communities with limited television or internet connectivity.Read More...

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) Tuesday approved 7 projects worth Rs. 41.37 billion including Ph.D Scholarship under US- Pakistan Knowledge Corridor which was referred to ECNEC for final consideration. Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan approved 06 projects worth Rs16.111 billion and recommended 1 project worth Rs. 25.226 billion to ECNEC for consideration. Senior officials from Planning Commission and federal governments also participated in the meeting while representatives from provincial governments participated through video conference.Read More...

Adviser to the PM on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Tuesday chaired a meeting to discuss measure that could facilitate the investors to bring in more investment to the country to boost up the country’s pace of development. During the meeting BoI Chairman Atif R. Bokhari discussed with the Adviser the investment prospects available in the country and the areas and fields where foreign investors could show interest and make investments leading to overall economic development and increase in the GDP growth rate. The problems faced by the foreign investors post COVID-19 environment were also discussed, according to a news release issued by the Finance Ministry. Read More...