Morning Market Brief 22nd Jan. 2021

The Benchmark KSE100 index is moving a bullish price channel on daily chart and have recovered from its bearish rally after getting support from supportive trend line of this channel meanwhile index recovered from its bearish price channel on hourly chart after getting support from a strong horizontal supportive region during last trading session. As of now index have major resistant region ahead between 46,150pts-46,200pts while breakout above this region would call for a weekly double top at 46,300pts therefore it's recommended to stay cautious and post trailing stop loss on existing long positions. Meanwhile it's recommended to start profit taking on spike during current trading session because it's expected that index would turn towards neutral zone after a spike during current trading session. While on flip side in case of rejection from its resistant regions index would find support initially at 45,780pts while breakout below that region would call for 45,500pts. Overall a volatile session would be witnessed during current trading session therefore it's recommended to adopt swing trading session. Momentum indicators are in mixed mode on both daily and hourly indicators therefore it's recommended to avoid short term investments until either index gave breakout above 46,500pts or below 45,500pts on daily chart.

Asian shares eased from record highs on Friday as investors took some money off the table after a recent rally that was driven by hopes a massive U.S. economic stimulus plan by incoming President Joe Biden will help temper the COVID-19 impact. MSCI’s broadest gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan was off 0.2% at 722.49 points, a whisker away from its all-time high of 727.31 touched on Thursday. Australia’s benchmark index was down 0.2% while Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.4%. Chinese shares started on the backfoot with the blue-chip CSI300 index down 0.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 0.1%. Overnight on Wall Street, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eased a touch, falling into negative territory in the final minutes of trading.Read More...

National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Privatisation on Thursday directed the Privatisation Commission to provide criteria for privatisation of government entities. Meeting of the Standing Committee on Privatization was held on Thursday in Privatization Division under the chairmanship of Syed Mustafa Mahmud, MNA, for briefing on Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) Taxila as well as comprehensive briefing on vision and further three years plan of the Ministry of Privatisation. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries & Production, gave detailed briefing on HEC. He informed that HEC was established by GOP to manufacture power transformers exclusively for WAPDA/KESC then dependent on imported transformers.Read More...

In a major achievement towards ensuring ease of doing business, Pakistan has improved 31 positions, from 142nd to 111th, on the rank of Trading Across Border Index, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said here. The board had made trading across borders easier by focusing three crucial areas including enhancing the integration of various agencies in the Web-Based One Customs (WEBOC) electronic system; reducing the number of documents required for import/export clearances; enhancing capacities of Pakistan Customs officials for playing pro-active role in smoothly regulating border trade.Read More...

Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Thursday approved development projects costing over Rs251 billion. Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired a meeting of the Executive Committee of the ECNEC at Cabinet Division. ECNEC considered and approved a summary regarding construction of Gwadar-Ratodero Road Project (M-8), sponsored by the Ministry of Communication and executed by NHA, at a rationalized cost of Rs. 38,026.28 million. The ECNEC approved the project in view of its strategic importance as it will facilitate connectivity for CPEC projects through improved road linkages. Read More...

Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan on Thursday announced a Rs1.95 per unit increase in electricity rates, blaming the "landmines" left for the PTI government by the previous administration for the power sector's perennial issues. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Power Tabish Gauhar and federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, Ayub said the rise in tariff was still "much less than the increase which should be done due to the [PML-N government's] failed policies". He said the new rates would be applicable once the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) issued a notification.Read More...