Daily Times

Kse-100 index witnesses a bullish trend after it gained 319 points to close 0.96% higher at 33,603.02.

After a series of lackluster trading sessions, investors’ confidence was lifted, breathing fresh rally in stocks. Major rally was led by cement sector after Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan announced immediate commencement of the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam at an estimated cost of Rs474 billion aimed at increasing the country’s depleting water storage capacity. The dam will have a 6.4 million acres feet live storage capacity and an installed power capacity of 4,500 megawatts. The government’s multi-billion-rupee project would likely generate a demand of 20-25 million tons of cement for the next four to five years.

Meanwhile, investor sentiments were also buoyed over market expectation of a further rate cut in the monetary policy, to be announced by the State Bank of Pakistan on Friday. However, the gains made during the session were impeded by Banking and oil & gas sector stocks.

The KSE-100 Index accumulated gains throughout the day, registering its intraday high at 33,628.37 (+344.58). Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index amassed 621.73 points to settle at 54,660.28, while the KSE All Share Index added 165.35 points to end at 23,831.96. Of the total traded shares, 181 advanced while 111 remained unchanged.

Of the 90 traded companies in the Kse-1000 Index, 56 closed up 33 closed down, while 1 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 149.32 million shares. All Share Volume increased by 26.29 Million to 224.53 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.42.45 Billion. Average traded value also increased by 68pc to $45.9 million, as against $27.4 million in the previous session.

Sectors that lifted kse-100 index included cement with 150.05 points, banking with 67.40 points and fertilizer with 61.83 points. Among the companies the top contributors to the index included Lucky Cement Limited adding 49.56 points, Engro Corporation Limited adding 31.32 points, and Habib Bank Limited adding 28.86 points.

Sectors that kept the pressure on index included Oil & Gas Marketing Companies deducting 16 points from, followed by Tobacco with 8 points, Investment banks with 4 points, Leather & Tanneries with 4 points and Insurance with 4 points.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s total external debt and liabilities by the end of first quarter of 2020 has jumped to $109.94 billion, signifying a growth of 4% YoY, as during Jan-Mar CY19 it was $105.9 billion. However ,in the previous quarter, the total external debt had stood at $110.7 billion, indicating a marginal decline.

According to the latest data issued quarterly by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), 79% of the entire debt can be attributed to Public External Debt, the combination of Government’s Long Term and Short-Term External Debt, IMF loans to Central Bank, and Foreign Exchange Liabilities.  The Government external debt which includes both long term and short-term external debt stood at $70 billion, up by 2% YoY, IMF loans to Central Bank and Federal government standing at $5 billion and $1.42 billion respectively, while Foreign exchange liabilities outstanding recorded at $9.87 billion during the quarter under review.

Within the public external debt, the Long-term debt stood at $67.37 billion which is the same as recorded in the same quarter last year while it declined marginally compared to figures recorded in previous quarter. Short term debt (less than one year) increased by a whopping 2.4x to $2.689 billion compared to the same quarter of CY19. While it declined by 4% compared to last quarter in which it recorded at $ 5.765 billion.

Global Markets

Global markets were whipsawed by the concerns over possible revival of economic activity as governments move to lift lockdowns, as well as mounting fears of second wave of virus that could further spook investor’s sentiments.

At wall street, The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained just 9 points, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 dipped 0.4%  while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq entered the session riding a six-session winning streak.

Investors continued to pile into tech firms whose businesses proved to have the most resilient in the age of covid-19 crisis. Shares of Amazon and Netflix both soared more than 30% this year, while Microsoft gained 18%. Chipmaker Nvidia hit a fresh all-time high on Tuesday, bringing its 2020 gains to 38%. Stocks in Asia took a plunge sending major benchmark indexes into a negative territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.45%, leading the regional losses.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.12% to close at 20,366.48.South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.68% lower at 1,922.17. Mainland Chinese stocks edged lower with Shanghai composite down 0.11% to about 2,891.56.