Morning Market Brief 28th Dec. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index is moving in a bullish price channel on hourly chart after completion of its 61.8% correction of its recent bullish rally, meanwhile on its way back towards its previous top it's being capped by a strong horizontal resistant region between 43,600pts-43,700pts and this region falls at 61.8% correction of its correction so it can be said that index is trying to complete correction of its previous correction until it would not succeed in closing above 43,700pts. While sentiment would remain mixed until index gave a clear breakout above 43,700pts and breakout above this region would call for 43,950pts. But on daily chart it would be capped by resistant trend line of its bullish price channel therefore it can face strong resistance below 44,000pts. Currently it's recommended to stay on buying side for day trading and if index would take a dip then it would be a better time to initiate new long positions between 43,200pts-43,100pts with strict stop loss of 43,000pts and targets at 43,600pts-43,700pts. Meanwhile daily momentum indicators are trying to generate bullish crossovers and these would succeed once index would succeed in closing above 43,860pts on daily chart which would push index further upside and in this case a new rally would push index towards 44,200pts. While on flip side if index would face rejection from its resistant regions and would succeed in penetration below 43,000pts then its next targets on bearish side would be 42,8pts and 42,500pts. Overall a volatile session would be witnessed today.

Global shares ticked up on Monday as a source said U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package he had until now refused to sign.U.S. S&P futures last traded up 0.4%. The futures had earlier reversed losses after a cryptic tweet by Trump - “Good news on Covid Relief Bill. Information to follow” - helped offset worries about further delay in stimulus spendings. A source later said he had approved the bill. Japan’s Nikkei inched up 0.4%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, though trade is slow with many markets still closed for holiday.“It is positive for markets that we no longer have a chaos over stimulus, considering there was a chance of a partial government shutdown,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief strategist at Sumimoto Mitsui DS Asset Management.Read More...

Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Sunday said Pakistan’s trade with African countries touched $4.18 billion in 2019-20, which increased by seven percent as compared to the previous year (2018-19). As a result of Pakistan’s new engagement with African countries through “Look Africa Campaign” started by government of Pakistan, despite Covid-19 pandemic, exports to Africa increased by seven percent in 2019-20 from $1.38 billion in 2018-19 to $1.48 billion in 2019-20, the advisor told APP. The advisor said total trade with Africa has increased from $3.19 billion in 2016-17 to $4.18 billion in 2019-20. Replying to a query on the surge in trade with African countries, he said Pakistan’s trade with Africa remained stagnant at US $ three billion per year for last few years but because of government’s trade policies with Africa, now multilateral trade with African region crossed the mark of US$ four billion.Read More...

The much-awaited construction work on the 1,100-Kilometer gas pipeline is likely to start in July next year aimed at transporting the commodity from Karachi to Lahore and meeting the country’s ever-growing energy needs. The North-South Gas Pipeline Project (NSGPP) will be executed in collaboration with Russia, under which Pakistan would have a majority share of 51-74 per cent, a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP. He said Pakistan’s two state-companies, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and Sui Southern Gas Company, had started acquiring land for the pipeline, which would be constructed with a leading role of a Russian consortium. Read More...

The oil and gas exploration & production (E&P) companies have planned to inject around 150 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) additional gas in the transmission network in the coming days from their different fields to meet the increased demand of the commodity during current winter. “Additional local gas and increased import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will help tackle the high demand of the commodity in winter,” a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP. He said around 30 percent additional supply of LNG had been procured for the next month as compared to the same period of 2018. The official said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had arranged 12 LNG cargoes for January 2021. “One cargo that was scheduled for 30th December, and was intended to supply for January 2021, has been moved a few days ago into January.Read More...

The consumption of imported tea increased by 26.72 per cent as Pakistanis consumed tea worth $233.632 million during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year. The consumption of imported tea was recorded at $184.365 million during the same period of last year (July-November 2019-20), according to the latest figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country increased by 36 percent during the period under review as these grew from 78,771 metric tons to 107,252 metric tons, the data revealed. The overall food imports into the country increased by 44.53 percent from $2088.960 million last year to $3019.072 million during the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports into the country increased by 5.98 percent during the month of November 2020 as compared to the same month of last year.Read More...