Morning Market Brief 22nd Oct. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index is in expansion mode of its last bullish correction since start of this week and it's expected that it would try to target supportive trend line of its previous bullish price channel around 42,000pts which would react as a major resistant region this time and would try to push index downward for an intraday correction. On intraday basis index would face initial resistance between 41,650-41,700pts and breakout above this region would call for next resistant region which fall between 42,000pts-42,150pts. Mean while intraday momentum indicators are trying to changed their direction therefore it's recommended to start profit taking on spike or post trailing stop loss on existing long positions. On flip side if index would face rejection from its resistant regions then momentum would start losing strength and bears would try to push index below 41,150pts to avoid a bullish engulfing pattern on weekly chart. Sentiment would remain bullish until index would not succeed in closing below 40,500pts on daily chart.

Asian shares fell on Thursday and U.S. Treasury yields ticked lower as investors fretted over the slow pace of U.S. stimulus talks and a surge in global cases of COVID-19. In morning trade, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.63%. Australian shares gave up 0.6%, Seoul’s Kospi was off 0.59% and and Chinese blue-chips dropped 1.1%. he Nikkei was 0.69% lower. Uncertainty over the passage of a bill to stimulate a pandemic-ravaged economy comes as the United States faces a new wave of COVID-19 cases. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states were in a danger zone of coronavirus spread and six, including election battleground Wisconsin, reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. Against the backdrop of stimulus talks and the spread of the novel coronavirus, Wall Street’s three major averages closed lower on Wednesday after a choppy trading session.Read More...

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has suspended the Marketing License of Hascol Petroleum Limited Khyber PakhtunKhwa and also imposed the penalty of Rs10 million on the Company for violating rules and regulation. Hascol Petroleum Limited (HPL) was found operating illegal/unauthorised storage and selling of petroleum products (petrol & diesel) at Amangarh Depot, therefore the OMC License of Khyber PakhtunKhwa has been suspended with immediate effect, said a spokesman of the OGRA here Wednesday.Read More...

Privatisation Commission Board on Wednesday has unanimously approved the bidders’ price for the auctioned properties of the federal government. Federal Minister for Privatization Mohammed Mian Soomro chaired the Privatisation Commission (PC) Board meeting in Islamabad. Privatization board members and senior officials of the Ministry attended the meeting. In the meeting, the auction results of federal government owned properties were discussed. The government owned 26 properties were specified for the open public auction and the process started on September 7th and culminated on 28th September 2020. Out of 26 properties 23 were successfully auctioned with Rs1.113 billion auction proceeds against the Rs1.011billion reserved price. The Meeting started with the approval of the minutes of the previous board meeting and the discussion regarding the auction of properties ensued.Read More...

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday observed that, incurring more expenditure to provide relief to the people at or below the poverty line will require more borrowing and right now it would not be possible to increase tax net at a time of declining growth in the economy. He made these remarks while addressing the Ministers and Governors of Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) Region of the IMF on the occasion of IMF’s MD interaction with Ministers and Governors of the Region through video link.Read More...

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Wednesday approved two mega projects worth of Rs 8.175 billion to support education system under COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting of the committee was chaired by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan and was attended by senior officials from Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions. Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training presented two mega projects in CDWP meeting. The CDWP approved a project titled “Pandemic Response Effectiveness Project (PREP) for COVID-19” worth Rs4.87 billion. The completion period project would be 24 months and the objective of this project is to prepare and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan to address significant disruptive impact that keep children, teachers and administrators out of school for prolonged period.Read More...