Daily Times

Pakistan stock exchange staged a comeback after two lacklustre sessions, as bulls managed to triumphs bears. The indices headed north as soon as the opening bell rang while volumes improved significantly from the last session.

The fresh rally at KSE-100 was led by market sentiments over expectations that following the trend by global central banks, Pakistan state bank will also follow the suit, and cut key interest rate to inject stimulus into the economy. Irfan Saeed, senior vice president BMA capital management noted that market expectation of possible interest rate cut was further strengthened by the recovery in Asian markets and yesterday’s PIB auction results which further strengthened market expectation of monetary easing in March 2020 policy as the cut off yields for 3, 5 and 10Yr bonds decreased by 46bps, 41bps and 15bps respectively. Adding 836.10 points, the KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 39,742.50. It closed higher by 475.71 points at 39,382.11. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index appreciated by 1,598.34 points to end at 62,521.67, while the KSE All Share Index accumulated 309.00 points, settling at 27,228.79. Out of the total traded shares, 227 advanced and 98 declined. The overall market volumes improved from 186.99 million shares in the previous session to 340.72 million. Fauji Cement Company Limited led the volume table, followed by Unity Foods Limited and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited, exchanging 29.96 million, 25.98 million and 21.49 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that propped up the index painted included cement with 176.65 points, fertilizer with 117.12 points and oil & gas exploration with 80.96 points. Among the companies, Lucky Cement Limited ,Engro Corporation Limited and Hub Power Company Limited picked up the index. The cement sector gained 5.88pc in its total market capitalization, with Lucky Cement Limited (, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited, D G Khan Cement Company Limited and Bestway Cement Limited closing with decent gains.

Meanwhile, National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) hints at further decline in inflation rate in the following months. The meeting held at the Finance Division was attended by the representatives from the provincial governments; the Islamabad Capital Territory; the ministries of Industries, Interior, Law and Justice, Planning Development and Special Initiatives, National Food Security and Research; the Federal Board of Revenue, the Competition Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the Utility Stores Corporation.

The meeting discussed the trend of Consumer Price Index (CPI)-a headline measure of inflation- and observed that the prices of food items such as pulses, fresh vegetables and wheat, which had been the main top drivers of inflation, saw a downward trend on monthly basis.

The meeting was informed that the CPI inflation plunged by 1.0pc on MoM in February 2020 over January 2020. However on YoY, it was recorded at 12.4pc in February 2020 over February 2019, while July-February CPI inflation on YoY reached to 11.7pc (6.0pc last year).It was noticed that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which monitors the price movement of 51 essential items on weekly basis, had recorded a decrease of 1.16pc for the week ended on 27th February this year.

During the week, 13 items recorded decline in their prices, whereas the prices of 25 items remained stable. It was the third consecutive decline in SPI during the month of February 2020, the meeting was told.