PSX Daily Market Review - 15 March 2017

The Bench Mark KSE100 Index Opened at 48649.84, posted a day high of 48662.51 and a day low of 48061.27 during last trading session whereas session suspended at 48539.06 with a net change of -116.66 points and net trading volume of 92.56 million shares. Daily trading volume of KSE100 listed companies increased by 42.53 million shares or 85% on DoD basis.

Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors took profits before a U.S. central bank policy meeting that could signal how much monetary tightening to expect during the remainder of the year, with an immediate rate hike fully priced in by markets. Though recent data, particularly out of China, has fueled a rally in Asian equities since the start of the year, investors are expecting more headwinds for emerging markets due to an increasingly hawkish Fed. The positive sentiment towards emerging markets is not sustainable as the interest rate differential advantage in favor of Asia is likely to reduce in the coming months, said Frances Cheung, head of rates strategy for Asia ex-Japan at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. The MSCI broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.3 percent after posting its second-biggest daily gain this year in the previous session. Japanese benchmark Nikkei average .N225 was down 0.3 percent while stocks in South Korea .KS11 and Australia declined 0.2 and 0.5 percent respectively.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has the power to cancel the licences of the producing companies if they don’t follow the LPG prices determined by the regulatory body. Ogra has once again asked the LPG producer companies to provide the record of sale price charged from the marketing companies for the month of February and March, official source told The Nation. The provision of data will help in determining the LPG prices for the marketing companies and may help further reduce the 11.8 KG cylinder price, the official said. In February after analyzing the Saudi Aramco LPG prices for the past three months, Ogra determined that the prices of LPG will be Rs77,220 per metric tonne or Rs910 for 11.8kg cylinder. The notified prices would be applicable only to locally produced LPG, while the imported commodity would remain deregulated and would be supplied to industrial consumers and the auto sector.
The Ministry of Industries and Production has initiated an enquiry into the wrong and steep estimates of ex-Karachi fertiliser prices by the National Fertiliser Development Centre, which favoured fertiliser manufacturers and importers at the cost of poor farmers and the public exchequer. As per sources and documents available with TheNation, now more amount has to be allocated by the government for giving subsidy on the DAP and other phosphatic fertilisers, resulting in a loss of billions of rupees, but to the benefit of fertiliser manufacturers and importers. “It seems as if a virtual single stroke of pen has hit the government plan really hard, which was to serve the agriculturists since new estimates would have to be sketched out by adding minimum of Rs3 billion to the previous estimates,” observed the Ministry source, seeking anonymity.
Masses are again taking interest in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) due to rising petroleum prices, which is good for consumers, environment and the people involved in gas business. As the prices of petrol continue to climb, the price of CNG will start falling soon, benefitting the consumers, said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, central chairman of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA). He said that CNG dealers had felt the heat of falling oil prices since long as many motorists shifted to petrol but now the situation was taking a turn in favour of the environmentally-friendly fuel. Car owners with CNG kits enjoyed over 50 percent savings when petrol was traded above Rs100 per litre from April 2012 onwards. The highest petrol price was recorded in October 2013 when it was sold at Rs113.24 per litre. Since November 2014, petrol prices started to drop from Rs100 per litre, he said.
The federal government on Tuesday proposed to set up a committee of technical experts nominated by provincial governments to monitor the data processing at the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for transparency in the population census process. The proposed committee would ensure that all parameters of the data processing are uniformly applied across the country. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar floated the idea of forming the committee in response to an inquiry from Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. The Sindh government and Senators had raised questions about transparency of the population census starting from today (Wednesday). Senators raised questions about the census process, saying the exercise was being held in a non-transparent manner. Similarly, the chief minister urged the federal government to take necessary measures to make the 6th population census credible.

ENGRO, PSO and Overall Steel Sector (CSAP and ISL)

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