PSX Daily Market Review - 25th Oct 2019

Trading volume at PSX floor increased by 438 million shares or 3.75% on DoD basis, whereas the benchmark KSE100 index opened at 33,467.06, posted a day high of 33,862.64 and a day low of 33,439.69 points during last trading session while session suspended at 33,762.48 points with net change of 322.79 points and net trading volume of 67.65 million shares. Daily trading volume of KSE100 listed companies increased by 2.13 million shares or 3.25% on DoD basis.
Foreign Investors remained in net buying positions of 0.57 million shares and net value of Foreign Inflow increased by 1.07 million US Dollars. Categorically, Foreign Individual & Foreign Corporate remained in net selling positions of 0.80 and 11.69 million shares but Overseas Pakistanis investors remained in net buying positions of 13.06 million shares. While on the other side Local Individuals, Companies, NBFCs and Insurance Companies remained in net selling positions of 1.93, 0.10, 0.01 and 0.86 million shares respectively but Banks, Mutual Fund and Brokers remained in net buying positions of 0.69, 0.43 and 0.13 million shares respectively.

Asian shares track modest global gains, sterling lower
Asian shares inched up on Friday, tracking small gains in world markets as positive earnings offset economic growth concerns, while sterling weakened as the prospect of a UK election added fresh uncertainty to Brexit dramas. In early trade in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.13% higher. Australian shares added 0.66% and Japan's Nikkei .N225 ticked up 0.15%. The British pound, which had fallen 0.51% on Thursday after Johnson’s call for a general election on Dec. 12, extended its slide, edging down to $1.2844. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson conceded on Thursday for the first time that he would not meet his “do or die” deadline to leave the European Union next week. Continued uncertainty over Brexit comes against the backdrop of pertinently sluggish growth.
300MW Gwadar plant’s inauguration in first week of Nov
Vice chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) China will inaugurate 300MW coal power plant at Gwadar during first week of November. The meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee of CPEC is scheduled during first week of November and the vice chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) China will be arriving to Pakistan one day ahead of the meeting, said Zafar Hassan secretary Planning Development and Reforms. Talking exclusively to The Nation, the secretary said that there were rumors and misconception that the present government has abandoned CPEC which was not true. “We have cleared the plate of the pending projects and resolved the issues related to corridor projects.”
SCCI, UNDP agree to remove hurdles in Pak-Afghan trade
The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and representative of UNDP have agreed to make joint efforts to remove hurdles in bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, amicable resolution of common issues and to further strengthen relations between business communities of the two countries. The agreement came during a meeting of SCCI Vice President Abdul Jalil Jan with UNDP representative, Simbal Adnan Khan in the chamber house here on Thursday. The SCCI former president, Faiz Mohammad Faizi, former vice president Shuja Mohammad, Senior Vice President of Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Khalid Shahzad, the chamber senior member Rashid Siddique and Ammar Ansari were present in the meeting.
Pakistan takes big leap in business index
In what appears to be the highest-ever upward shift in a year shown by a country, Pakistan climbed 28 places and rose to the rank of 108 in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index and landed in the club of world’s top 10 business climate improvers. In its report for the year 2020 released on Thursday, the World Bank said the enactment of six regulatory reforms, including a concerted improvement in business regulation, had improved Pakistan’s overall ranking that would improve the country’s image for attracting investments. Global investors use the World Bank’s index as a guide to learn about the business environment of a country before making any business plan. Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan had achieved the biggest improvement in its history in World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings. “Over last decade Pakistan’s ranking had slipped more than 50 places. Now we have improved 28 places from 136 to 108,” he added.
Automobile imports plunge as demand dips
Depressed demand in the auto sector has led to a drop of 27 per cent in overall import of completely- and semi-knocked kits (CKD/SKD) to $261 million in first quarter of the current fiscal year. Of the total imports, arrival of CKD/SKD kits for heavy vehicles plunged to $67m from $114m, followed by $175m for cars from $216m and $18.8m for two-wheelers from $27m in 1QFY19. Moreover, local auto sales fell by 39pc to 31,017 units in 1QFY20 while truck and bus sales dropped to 874 and 196 units from 2,049 and 267 units respectively. Honda and Suzuki bike sales fell by 12pc and 11pc to 235,116 and 5,018 respectively, while those of Yamaha decreased by 1pc to 6,212 units.