PSX Daily Market Review - 15th Feb 2019

Trading volume at PSX floor dropped by 36.62 million shares or 22.85% on DoD basis, whereas the benchmark KSE100 index opened at 40,544.99, posted a day high of 40,589.15 and a day low of 40,318.01 points during last trading session while session suspended at 40,506.98 with net change of -37.13 points and net trading volume of 58.30 million shares. Daily trading volume of KSE100 listed companies dropped by 44.1 million shares or 43.07% on DoD basis.
Foreign Investors remained in net buying positions of 2.39 million shares and net value of Foreign Inflow increased by 2.60 million US Dollars. Categorically, Foreign Corporate remained in net buying positions of 2.46 million shares but and Overseas Pakistani investors remained in net selling positions of 0.08 million shares. While on the other side Local Individuals, NBFCs and Brokers remained in net buying positions of 11.80, 0.2 and 1.91 million shares respectively but Local Companies, Banks, Mutual Fund and Insurance Companies remained in net selling positions of 0.43, 0.72, 2.78 and 12.39 million shares.

Asian stocks fall after weak U.S. data, crude oil buoyant
Asian stocks fell on Friday after weak U.S. retail sales figures raised fresh doubts about the strength of the world’s largest economy, offsetting optimism towards trade talks between the United States and China. Also casting a shadow, the White House said U.S. President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, drawing immediate criticism from Democrats. A wait-and see mood ensued for markets ahead of the results of a meeting on Friday between the Trump administration’s top two negotiators and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Phase-II study on shale gas, oil to be conducted in potential areas
Following identification of massive shale gas and oil deposits in lower and middle Indus Basin, the second phase of the survey would be launched in other potential areas to assess the sedimentary rock-based fuel reserves in the country. “A study carried out by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has revealed the presence of 95 trillion cubic feet (TCF) gas and 14 billion barrels oil technically recoverable in Indus Basin. While, the study for remaining parts of the country will be conducted in Phase-II,” an official source privy to the petroleum sector developments told APP. He said the country needed assistance of interested Exploration and Production (E&P) companies in this field to economically exploit these non-conventional hydrocarbon resources. Answering a question, the official said an innovative and radical Shale gas policy was being prepared for onward submission to the quarters concerned to get final approval.
ICCI calls for early development of SEZ in Islamabad
The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the federal government to ensure early ground-breaking of special economic zone (SEZ) under CPEC in Islamabad. The body said the initiative would help boost industrial and investment activities in the region. Ahmed Hassan Moughal, president Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan during a recent meeting held to review progress on CPEC was informed that Rashakai-KP, Dhabeji-Sindh and M-3 Faisalabad-Punjab SEZs would be ready for ground-breaking by June this year, which was very encouraging. However, he said that groundbreaking of the SEZ in Islamabad could get unnecessarily delay as the government has not selected any site or acquired land for this project so far.
Foreign reserves reach 14.89b: SBPt
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country during the week ended on February 8, 2019 stood at $14,895.8 million. According to the break-up of the foreign reserves position, reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan were recorded at $8,205.9 million whereas net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $6,689.9 million, said a press release issued by the State Bank of Pakistan. During the week ending on February 8,2019, SBP reserves increased by $13 million to $8,205.9 million.
PARC recommends, approves 12 new varieties of hybrid rice seeds for cultivation
Variety Evaluation Committee (VEC) on Rice of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Thursday recommended 12 new hybrids rice and one open pollinated variety for commercial cultivation across the rice growing areas of country to promote the crop output. The meeting was held at PARC and its national coordinator (Rice) presented the working paper for all the twenty-six proposals of rice hybrids, varieties for recommendation to the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department. The meeting was attended by technical members from National Agriculture Research Center including Director General, Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, Director General (Agriculture Research) Government of the Punjab, Food Security Commissioner from Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Director General of NARC. The representatives of seed companies including Chairman Seed Association of Pakistan also attended the meeting.

The Benchmark KSE100 Index have tried to bounced back after getting support from a rising trend line on daily chart during last trading session but index have came back in its bearish trend channel and right now it’s expected that index would need a positive gap opening to continue its bullish trend out of said bearish channel. Some volatility could be witnessed during current trading session because index is trying to format an evening shooting star on weekly chart and if it would succeed in closing below 40,460 points then this formation would be completed which may lead index in bearish direction in next week. It’s recommended to stay cautious while trading and long positions for intraday trading could be beneficial if index would close above 40,600 points on hourly chart and this would lead index towards 40,860 points initially where it would face strong resistance.