Morning Market Brief 9th Feb. 2021

The Benchmark KSE100 index is moving in a bullish price channel on hourly chart but have faced rejection from a strong horizontal resistant region during last trading session, which pushed it downward for an intraday correction. As of now index have completed its 50% correction on hourly chart and its being supported by a strong horizontal supportive region at same level therefore it's expected that index would try to continue its bullish journey during current trading session. Meanwhile hourly stochastic have changed its direction towards bullish side which indicates that index would try to take a spike today therefore it's recommended to stay on long with side with strict stop loss. Currently it's expected that index would initially try to target 47,150pts and breakout above that region would call for 47,350pts and 47,500pts but it's recommended to trade step by step after breakout of each resistant region it could be beneficial to target next one with strict stop loss. While on flip side index would try establish ground above its major supportive region of 46,700pts and 46,500pts. Oil & Gas exploration sector would try to lead today's bullish rally because international oil prices are inching up and it's expected that WTI would continue moving towards 60$/bbl where it's being capped by a strong resistant trend line on monthly chart. In case of breakout above 47,500pts-47,660pts index would start moving towards 100% expansion of its last bullish rally which falls at 48,400pts but it's recommended to stay cautious and post trailing stop loss on existing long positions because once index would start a corrective rally then it would not provide chance to take a safe exit to day traders and short term investors.

Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a record-setting day on Wall Street, while Bitcoin paused for breath after an overnight endorsement from Tesla Inc sent the cryptocurrency up 20%. Oil also hit 13-month highs, helped by rising optimism about a return in fuel demand. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.32 % at 721.53 after climbing as high as 730.16 late last month. Korea was an early riser, up 0.92% while Chinese blue chips rose 0.49% and Hong Kong nudged up 0.24%. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 was up 0.36% and e-mini futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.5%. The early action came after another day of so-called reflation trades around the world, in which global markets bid up stocks, oil and gold while U.S. Treasury yields held near 11-month highs.Read More...

Two different committees of the federal cabinet on Monday approved payment of Rs403 billion in two instalments to 46 independent power producers (IPPs) as part of renegotiated agreements. This now leaves just one power producer — Zurlu Enerji of Turkey — out of 47 IPPs which had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with a negotiation team of the government in August last year to provide some discounts against their original power purchase agreements (PPA). A cabinet member told Dawn that the Turkish firm’s outstanding dues as of Nov 30, 2020, stood at about Rs1.5bn and its executives were apparently unavailable for logistic reasons. “Hopefully, Zurlu will also be onboard before Feb 12, or else it could be taken up subsequently,” he said.Read More...

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) Monday approved four projects worth Rs. 6.8 billion and recommended one project of Sialkot (Sambial)-Kharian Motorway worth Rs43.32 billion to Ecnec for further consideration. Central Development Working Party (CDWP) met here with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan in the chair. Secretary Planning Mathar Niaz Rana, senior officials from Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions also participated in the meeting while representatives from provincial governments participated through video conference. The meeting discussed projects related to energy, information technology, transport & communications. A project presented in the meeting related to energy namely “16 MW Hydro Power Project Naltar-III, Gilgit” worth Rs 6199.493 million was approved by the CDWP. The object of the project is to construct 16 MW Hydropower project to transmit energy to Gilgit through existing 66 kV transmission line of Naltar-V for meeting power requirements of the Gilgit Town and its surrounding areas.Read More...

Pakistan’s trade deficit has swelled to $14.96 billion in first seven months (July 2020 to January 2021) of the current fiscal year FY21) as imports exceeded more than the exports. The country’s trade imbalance was recorded at $14.96 billion in July to January period of the FY2020-21 as compared to $13.82 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, showing an increase of 8.27 percent. The latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that country’s imports have exceeded than the exports, which resulted in higher trade deficit. The PBS data showed that Pakistan’s exports have increased by 5.53 percent. Exports were recorded at $14.24 billion in July to January period of FY2020-21 as against $13.5 billion in same period of the last year. Meanwhile, imports have stood at $29.21 billion in first seven months of current fiscal year as compared to $27.32 billion in same period of the last year, showing an increase of 6.92 percent. Read More...

National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) Monday urged the provincial governments and departments concerned to make consolidated and coordinated efforts to avoid hoarding, black marketing and smuggling to ensure uninterrupted supply of basic commodities at affordable prices across the country. A meeting of National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) was held at the Finance Division to review the price trend of essential commodities especially wheat flour, eggs, chicken, sugar and edible oil during the last week. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Industries and Production, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of National Food Security & Research, provincial administrations, PASSCO, PBS, CCP, FBR and senior officers of the Finance Division. Secretary, Ministry of Finance briefed NPMC about weekly SPI that increased by 0.5 percent. NPMC noted decline in prices of wheat, sugar, tomatoes, onion, eggs and potatoes during the week.Read More...