Morning Market Brief 8th May. 2020

The Benchmark KSE100 index have given a breakout of its rising wedge in downward direction after closing below supportive trend line that wedge during last trading session. Meanwhile index have closed below its major supportive region of 33,500pts and it would try to extend its bearish momentum towards 32,900pts and then 32,760pts. It's recommended to stay on selling side with strict stop loss of 34,000pts. If index would succeed in carrying its bearish sentiment till day end today and succeed in closing below 32,800pts then a weekly bearish engulfing pattern would took place and that formation would push index downward in next week more aggressively. After sliding below that region bulls would have their only hope at 32,000pts where index could find some ground while breakout of that region would call for a free fall towards 30,500-30,000pts.

While on flipside in case of reversal after getting support index would face strong resistances at 33,730pts where a strong horizontal resistant region would try to cap any bullish sentiment while breakout above that region could call 34,500pts.

Asian stocks were set to track Wall Street gains on Friday, after upbeat corporate earnings took the focus off upcoming data that is expected show the worst U.S. unemployment rate in more than 70 years. Stock futures were up ahead of the Asia market open while Thursday trading saw oil and the dollar give up earlier gains. U.S. Treasuries prices rose despite massive deficit financing and interest rate futures toying with the negative rates. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures added 0.7%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.1% in early trading. The upbeat sentiment follows gains of over 1% in main U.S. and European stock indexes on Thursday.Read More...

The government on Thursday launched Secured Transactions Registry (STR) to facilitate micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector to access financial services. It is also negotiating with lending institutions to put in place mechanisms to support MSMEs in retaining workers through payment of their salaries. The STR was formally inaugurated by Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. Established under the Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) Act, 2016 for registration of security interests and charges created by entities other than companies on their movable assets, the STR was operationalised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).Read More...

The government Thursday decreased the prices of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) by 19.11 percent for the consumers of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and 21.42 percent for the consumers of Sui Northern Gas Company (SNGPL). As per the notification issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), the RLNG prices were decreased for the consumers of both the state owned gas distribution companies for the month of May. According the notification, the price of RLNG was decreased by $1.8313 per MMBTU or 19.11 percent for the consumers of SSGC and $2.0477 per MMBTU or 21.42 percent for the consumers of SNGPL. The price of RLNG for SSGC has been set at $7.7521 per MMBTU for the ongoing month while for SNGPL the price will be $7.5105 per MMBTUM, said the notification.Read More...

The foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose by $259 million to $12.329 billion during the week ending on April 30. According to the figures issued by the SBP on Thursday, the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $6.425 billion and the total reserves held by the country were recorded at $18.755 billion.Read More...

Uzbekistan on Thursday formally sought Pakistan’s support for accession to the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA) in a bid to utilise Karachi and Gwadar ports for its trade operations. The formal request was made by Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov during a video conference with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Razak Dawood. Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Furqat Sidikov also joined the meeting held at the Ministry of Commerce in Islamabad. The QTTA is a transit trade deal among Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to facilitate the passage of goods and traffic. A road project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will provide access to China and the Central Asian States to Pakistani ports.Read More...