Morning Market Brief 28th Aug. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index have succeeded in penetration above another psychological barrier or resistant region of 41,000pts during last trading session. As of now it's expected that index would try to open with a negative gap to cover its previous gap and if fresh volumes would pop up then index would try to find some ground between 40,900-41,000pts while breakout below 40,860pts would push index towards 40,500pts on intraday basis. Mean while continuity in bullish sentiment would try to push index towards 41,300pts and 41,550pts. Index would face major resistances between 41,500-41,800pts on hourly and daily chart. It's recommended to stay cautious and post trailing stop losses on existing long positions.

Longer-dated Treasury yields and the dollar rose in Asia on Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve shifted its policy framework to place more emphasis on boosting economic growth and less on worries about letting. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan bounced between gains and losses in choppy trade. U.S. stock futures rose 0.25%. Australian stocks fell 0.85%. Shares in China rose 0.33%, while Tokyo stocks gained 0.16%. Oil futures fell due to easing concern about the impact of a hurricane that struck the centre of the U.S. oil industry. Markets swirled after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell laid out a policy that aims for 2% inflation on average so that too low a pace would be followed by an effort to lift inflation “moderately above 2% for some time.”Read More...

The country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $66 million to $19.72 billion during the week ending on August 21 as compared to the previous week. The foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $32 million during the corresponding to $12.64 billion. According to data released by the SBP on Thursday, the forex reserves inched up due to official inflows. During the corresponding period, the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were recorded at $7.081 billion.Read More...

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) Thursday approved two projects worth Rs 1.639 billion and referred project for evacuation of power from 2160 MW Dasu Hydropower Project (Stage-1) with the escalated cost of Rs.132.250 billion for the consideration of ECNEC. Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting, presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, reviewed four projects related to energy, industries & commerce and transport & communications sectors. The meeting was attended by senior officials of Planning Commission & line ministries.The forum has approved two projects related to transport & communications sections, referred one project related to the energy sector to ECNEC for further deliberations and deferred one project related to industries & commerce. Read More...

Electricity generation of hydel power stations owned and operated by Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) surpassed 8500 megawatts (MW) mark for the first time in Pakistan, as WAPDA provided 8757 MW of electricity to the national grid during peak hours the other day. Previously, the record of hydel power generation was 8474 MW delivered to the system on September 11, last year. This record generation of hydel electricity by WAPDA is the result of higher reservoir level at Tarbela and Mangla dams, increased water outflows as per indent by Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and effective operation of WAPDA hydel power stations.Read More...

Auditor General of Pakistan has decided to conduct a comprehensive audit of the COVID related expenditure. The decision was taken in a meeting on strategy formulation for audit of COVID-19 related expenditure. The meeting was chaired by the Auditor General of Pakistan Javaid Jahangir. The meeting was attended by Additional AGP-I&II, all DAGs and concerned DGs of Field Audit Offices dealing with COVID audit. It was decided in the meeting that Audit Officers (FAOs) would comprehensively cover all the possible areas of the COVID related expenditure including procurement of goods and services, advertisements, storage, relief funds, quarantine centres, services by hospitals and public health institution, testing, ration procurements and distribution etc.Read More...