Daily Times

Pakistan Stock exchange continues to post record losses, as coronavirus scare is weighing on Investor sentiments. Benchmark KSE-100 tumbled to its six-year low intraday, triggering a market halt for the 8th time this month. The KSE-100 index settled at 27,228 level, after losing 1,336 point or 4.68%. Benchmark KSE-100 Index fell to its intraday low at 27,169.14, losing about 28pc in its value so far this year, and shedding 11,000 points only this month.

Investors remain unimpressed despite two key stimulus measures taken by the state bank of Pakistan and the federal government .Yesterday, the government announced a massive $7.5 Billion economic bailout package in the wake of new coronavirus outbreak which is about 2.6% of country’s GDP while in a similar move, State Bank of Pakistan also slashed its policy rate by 150 bps to 11%, which is generally a treat for the market investors -largely assumed to mitigate the adverse impact of lockdown.

Irfan Saeed Senior Vice president of BMA Capital management Limited said the index posted another record intraday loss due to multiple reasons. He said on the technical ground , unsettled roll over week of future contract, which stands at around Rs 4.18 billion was one of the major reason which failed to add fresh rally. Furthermore, Mr Saeed added that heavy selling from mutual funds worth net $2.9 Million contributed to the index losses, as bullish sentiments have led to a surge in redemption demand. He added, amid continued global panic sell-off foreigners sold off worth $4.9 million of equities, which struck a major dent on the index.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 2,533.03 points to end at 41,370.78, while the KSE All Share Index lost 763.38 points, settling at 20,131.87. Out of the total traded shares, 76 advanced and 176 declined. The overall trading volumes increased from 98.75 million in the last session to 144.88 million, with Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited , K-Electric Limited and Unity Foods Limited leading the volume chart. The scripts exchanged 14.45 million, 11.62 million and 7.94 million shares, respectively. Sectors that weighed down KSE-100 Index included banking by 430.09 points, cement by 148.68 points and oil & gas exploration by 132.37 points. Among the companies, Engro Corporation Limited shed the most points, losing 130.73 points followed by Habib Bank Limited by 129.42 points and Hub Power Company Limited by 99.85 points. The oil & gas marketing sector turned out to be the top loser of the day, losing 6.81% in its cumulative market capitalization. Pakistan State Oil Company Limited lost 7.39% followed by , Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited shedding 6.95%, Hascol Petroleum Limited 7.58pc and Shell Pakistan Limited 5.92pc.

Meanwhile, Total gross divestment during March 2020 has reached $1.501 billion, in an expected trend of foreign outflows leaving the country due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Foreign investors divested $95 million of treasury bills (T-bills) on March 24, as per the Special Convertible Rupee Account (SCRA), which tracks inflows and outflows from foreign countries. This amount was enough to tip over total gross divestment over the $1.5 billion mark, which on March 13 stood at $1.406 billion.

The net investment in T-bills from July 2019 to date now amounts to $1.598 billion. At the rate of foreign outflows leaving the country, the net investment looks certain to fall to, or even further, than the December 2019 figure of $1.450 billion.

Global Markets: In US Wall street has recorded fresh rally as Dow Jones has jumped 4.56% following a historic rally in the previous session in anticipation of a coronavirus stimulus deal by Congress. The White House and Senate reached an agreement to pass massive $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill.

The S&P 30-stock average climbed more than 800 points, or 4.2%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3%. Boeing shares rallied 30% to lead the Dow higher. A 10.3% gain in Nike also boosted the Dow.

On Tuesday The Dow soared more than 2,100 points, or over 11%, notching its biggest one-day percentage gain since 1933 and its best point increase ever. The S&P 500 rallied 9.4% for its best day since October 2008. US investors believe the stock market was overdue for a big bounce, having priced in a worst-case scenario regarding the economic damage being done by coronavirus-related shutdowns. They believe a bounce could occur here even as coronavirus cases continue to surge because the market was oversold.

In Asia, regional stock markets picked up the pace as Japan’s Nikkei 225 led gains among major markets, adding 8.04% to close at 19,546.63 as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing gained 8.78%. South Korea’s Kospi also saw robust gains as it also jumped 5.89% to close at 1,704.76. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained about 3.81%, as of its final hour of trading. In China Shanghai compositeclimbed up 2.17% to about 2,781,59.

Meanwhile, European markets also remained in a positive territory following Massive stimulus measures , but the regional markets shed its earlier gains following a surge in number of coronavirus related death in new cases. Germany’s DAX shed most of its gains but still closed 1.30% higher, as business morale in Germany logged the steepest fall in March since the country’s reunification in 1990. Institute for Economic Research noted that the business climate index fell to 86.1 in March, lower than expectations of 87.7 and down from 96.0 in February. London’s FTSE-100 gained 3.46% after Virgin Money U.K shares jumped 26% while France’s CAC-40 closed 4.45% higher after French insurer CNP Assurances added 20%.