Daily Times

Pakistan Stock exchange benchmark kse-100 picked up the pace on Thursday, and landed in the positive territory for the fourth successive session. Benchmark index gained 111.86 points to clock 0.33% higher at 33,804-level. The index remained range bound throughout the day as investors watch out for tomorrow’s monetary policy decision.

During the session, investors’ sentiment picked up the pace following nearly Rs50 billion package for the agriculture sector. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) was given a demand of Rs56.6bn agriculture package to provide the farmers subsidy on fertilisers, reduction in bank mark-up on agriculture loans, subsidy on cotton seed and white fly pesticides and sales tax subsidy on locally manufactured tractors as part Rs100bn earmarked for farmers and small and medium enterprises (SME) out of the Rs1,200bn coronavirus relief package. However, Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, presiding over ECC asked the food security ministry to rationalise it to Rs50bn as per its share in the overall Rs100 package announced for the SMEs and the agriculture sector. The economic package lifted fertilizers stocks, and attracted fresh rally and interest from investors.

KSE-100 Index gathered 303.88 points in early trade to record its intraday high at 33,996.92 and also touched an intra day low of 33,686.86. Of the 94 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 45 closed up 47 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 128.01 million shares. All Share Volume increased by 21.01 Million to 240.21 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.35.92 Billion. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 171.77 points to settle at 54,764.84, while the KSE All Share Index added 135.21 points to end at 24,019.98. Of the total traded shares, 174 advanced and 127 declined.

The volume chart was led by TRG Pakistan Limited, followed by Unity Foods Limited and Agritech Limited, exchanging 20.95 million, 18.64 million and 14.80 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that propped up the benchmark index included fertilisers with 79.59 points, investment banking with 31.26 points and food & personal care with 26.66 points. Among the companies, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited remained the top contributor by 48.08 points, followed by Nestle Pakistan Limited by 26.16 points and Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 26.14 points, Millat Tractors Limited with 25 points and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited with 18 points.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Commercial Banks with 59 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 32 points, Cement with 29 points, Chemical with 3 points and Automobile Parts & Accessories with 3 points. Among the companies, most points taken off the index was by Hub Power Company Limited which stripped the index of 31 points followed by Habib Bank Limited with 22 points, Allied Bank Limited with 20 points, Bank Al Habib Limited with 10 points and Lucky Cement Limited with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh forecasted country’s economy would turn around to witness 2% growth in upcoming fiscal year (2020-21).During a webinar on “Pakistan Economy: Post COVID-19”, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP), the adviser said that Pakistan was initially expecting around 3pc growth during the current fiscal year, however, it would end up being -1pc to 1.5pc due to coronavirus impact.

Global Markets

Global stock markets bled red following mounting concerns, over resurgence of Covid-19 as most of the countries reopen their economies. At wall street, Stocks fell sharply on Thursday, extending their steep losses this week, after the latest jobless data underscored the coronavirus’ devastating toll on the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 400 points, headed for its fourth straight day of losses and bringing its weekly decline to more than 6%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both traded about 1.7% lower, on track for their third consecutive negative session.

U.S Labor Department reported jobless claims totaled 3 million last week far beyond median economist estimate of 2.5 million claims for the seven days that ended Saturday. The figure raises the eight-week total to more than 36 million. Although, the new data marks sixth straight week in which new unemployment-insurance claims have fallen. But claims remain elevated at a level that dwarfs that of the largest week of US job losses at 665,000 recorded during the Great Recession.

In Europe, stocks digested economic warning from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Chairman Jerome Powell, and hopes of an imminent end to the crisis fading. Powell raised alarm over further downside risks of covid-19 over U-S economy denting any hopes of revival of economic activity as economies open up.

Major benchmark index including CAC-40 in France, German DAX and FTSE-100 in England lost over 3% signaling dampening investors’ confidence.

Asian stock markets also edged lower following mounting covid-19 crisis. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.74% to close at 19,914.78. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.8% to close at 1,924.96. Mainland Chinese stocks closed lower, with the Shanghai composite down 0.96% to around 2,870.34.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.45%, as of its final hour of trading.