Daily Times

Karachi: Pakistan equities succumbed to selling pressures early in the week following imposition of travel bans on travelers from 7 Muslim nations with hints of extending it to Pakistan, and SECP notices to brokers regarding in-house financing. However, the benchmark index staged a mid-week recovery amid news of the Panama case hearing being adjourned due to ailment of the judge, the market was down 0.8 percent- ending its last 10 week bullish run.

Pharmaceuticals, Refinery, Cement & Commercial Banks declined by 2 to5.5 percent, while Oil & Gas Exploration, Chemical and Oil & Gas Marketing supported the broader index during the week as they were up 1 to 2 percent.

Foreigners remained the net sellers during the week of $15.3 million against $13.7 million of last week. Major selling was seen in Commercial Banks and Cements whereas buying was seen in the Fertilizer Sector.

Activity at the bourse tapered to 29.38 percent WoW with average volumes standing at 369.63 million shares with KEL 245.9 million shares), TRG 111.6 million, DSL 110.1 million, LOTCHEM 95.7 million and ASL 77.8mn shares) leading the board.

The bullish trend was mainly supported by corporate results and favorable news inflows. In a surprising result, Engro Foods reported a loss of Rs 0.3 per share in 4Q2016, taking the full year EPS to Rs 3.1, down 25 % YoY. The company also paid out an un-anticipated cash dividend of Rs 10 per share (including a one-time special dividend of Rs9/share). This will have after tax earnings impact of Rs 4.6/share on Engro Corporation’s book as it holds 36% stake in EFOODS.

Nishat Mills, signed a MoU with Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea and Sojitz Corporation, Japan for negotiating and establishing a framework for setting up a green field project for assembly and sale of passenger cars and 1 ton range commercial vehicles in Pakistan.

The project will cost around $150-200 million with a lead time of 3 years.

Government plans to raise Rs 2.4 trillion in the next three months to pay back the domestic debt, including debt servicing, and meet the fiscal gap. Government will raise Rs 2.25 trillion through treasury bills, which is higher than the maturing amount of the same instrument. An additional amount of Rs 152 billion will be raised through treasury bills as the maturing amount is going to be Rs 2.09 trillion.

During the week the state bank informed that the foreign exchange reserves have decreased by 4.29% on a weekly basis. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $22,434.9 million. The decrease is mainly attributed to external debt servicing, including $500 million loan repayment to State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China.

Following negotiations with the consortium of Engro, Fatima, and Shell over the last few months, Excelerate Energy is prepared to help the consortium deliver a proposed floating LNG terminal and second FSRU to the Pakistan market. The fast track FSRU project will supply much needed natural gas to Pakistan to help mitigate the gas supply shortfalls.

For the next week, analysts predict that the volatile trading will continue with earnings, institutional flows and developments over court proceedings to keep investors interest in the wider market alive.