ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday announced regulatory relief for corporate sector in order to dilute impact of coronavirus.
(more…)Day: April 1, 2020
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Equity market gains 274 points in range bound activity
KARACHI: The equity market gained 274 points on Wednesday in range bound trading activities.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 29,506 points as against 29,232 points showing an increase of 274 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded range bound today, oscillating between -330 points and +460 points during the session and closed +274 points.
CPI based inflation release matched street consensus at 10.2 percent that gave confidence to the investors that the upcoming number would be even lower, raising the hopes that yield on fixed instruments, particularly T-Bills and PIB will dip further.
Secondary market 5-year PIB was seen trading 9.1 percent.
Today’s trading session saw profit booking as well that kept the overall market range bound, perhaps weakness in global equity and commodities market caused investors to rethink their decision.
Cement sector led the volumes with 51.1 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (24.6 million) and Banks (15.9 million). Among scrips, HASCOL topped the chart with 25.8 million, followed by MLCF (19 million) and KEL (16.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+46 points), Textile (+37 points), Auto (+33 points), Inv Banks (+33 points) and E&P (+32 points).
Volumes declined from 222 million shares to 193.7 million shares (-13 percent DoD). Average traded value also dipped by 9 percent to reach US$ 40.1 million as against US$ 44.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, HASCOL, UNITY, OGDC and PIOC, which formed 37 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MARI (+35 points), DAWH (+35 points), MCB (+24 points), ENGRO (+23 points) and UBL (+23 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MEBL (-24 points), LUCK (-18 points), EFERT (-12 points), NESTLE (-10 points), and OGDC (-10 points).
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Rupee ends down by 13 paisas on import demand
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 13 paisas against dollar on Wednesday owing to higher demand from importers and corporate buyers.
The rupee closed at Rs166.83 to the dollar form previous day’s closing of Rs166.70 in interbank foreign exchange market.
The currency experts said that the rupee was remained under pressure due to higher demand from importers and corporate buyers.
They said that imports related to Ramazan was remained high. They further said that the foreign investors also seen taking out funds from domestic debt market.
They said that as the central bank reduced the policy rate by 2.25 percent to bring at 11 percent discouraged the foreign investors of domestic debt market.
A huge fund has been taken out by foreign investors through sale of treasury bills after the reduction in policy rate and also deterioration of international economic conditions after rising pace of coronavirus spread.
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FBR sanctions Rs56 billion sales tax refunds through FASTER
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday said that an amount of Rs56 billion was paid as sales tax refunds to improve liquidity of exporters.
The FBR shared information about refund claims sanctioned through FASTER (Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refund) system developed for quick processing of refunds due to exporters.
Since July 2019, Refund Claims amounting to Rs. 59 billion have been filed and FBR has sanctioned Rs. 56 billion, which comes to around 95 percent of the claimed amount.
During the month of March, FBR has sanctioned refunds of Rs. 25 billion approximately to exporters.
FASTER is a fully automated system which uses a Risk Management System for processing Sales Tax Refunds without human interference. FASTER is operational for the tax periods July and onwards.
FBR strives to make timely payment of Refunds to exporters so that they don’t face any liquidity issue.
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Headline inflation contracts in March to 10.2pc
ISLAMABAD: The headline inflation has contracted to 10.2 percent in March 2020 as compared with inflation in the previous month.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday said that Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation increased by 10.2 percent on year-on-year basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 12.4 percent in the previous month and 8.6 percent in March 2019.
On month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.04 percent in March 2020 as compared to a decrease of 1.0 percent in the previous month and an increase of 2.0 percent in March 2019.
The CPI inflation in urban areas increased by 9.3 percent on year-on-year basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 11.2 percent in the previous month and 8.9 percent in March 2019.
On month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.1 percent in March 2020 as compared to a decrease of 1.1 percent in the previous month and an increase of 1.9 percent in March 2019.
CPI inflation in rural areas increased by 11.7 percent on year-on-year basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 14.2 percent in the previous month and 8.2 percent in March 2019.
On month-on-month basis, it decreased by 0.1 percent in March 2020 as compared to a decrease of 1.0 percent in the previous month and an increase of 2.2 percent in March 2019.
Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation on YoY increased by 11.8 percent in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 14.5 percent a month earlier and an increase of 10.5 percent in March 2019. On MoM basis, it decreased by 0.3 percent in March 2020 as compared to a decrease of 0.8 percent a month earlier and an increase of 2.1 percent in March 2019.
Wholesale Price Indicator (WPI) inflation on YoY basis increased by 9.2 percent in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 12.6 percent a month earlier and an increase of 16.6 percent in March 2019.
WPI inflation on MoM basis it decreased by 0.9 percent in March 2020 as compared to a decrease of 0.8 percent a month earlier and an increase of 2.2 percent in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
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Oil consumption falls by 40pc during coronavirus lockdown
KARACHI: The oil consumption during last 15 days of the current month has declined by an average 40 percent due to lockdown to control outbreak of coronavirus.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that the oil consumption has declined to 26,000 tons/day compared to average consumption of 46,000 tons/day, which is due to the lockdowns announced by the provinces to control the outbreak of Covid-19.
Due to Covid-19 outbreak, Oil sales for March-2020 are expected to decline by 33 percent YoY (and 5 percent MoM) largely driven by declines in High Speed Diesel (HSD) and Furnace Oil (FO) volumes of 31 percent YoY and 62 percent YoY, respectively.
Ex-FO performance did not fare well either as 29 percent YoY decline is likely. The slight uptick in FO volumes witnessed in Jan-2020 has quickly disappeared with declines of 33 percent MoM and 51 percent MoM in Feb-2020 and Mar-2020, respectively.
During 9MFY20, overall volumes went down by 13 percent YoY (ex FO 8 percent) due to overall economic slowdown and impact of Covid-19.
PSO sales are likely to decline the most by 46 percent YoY. FO volumes are expected to decline by 88 percent YoY, HSD volumes by 34 percent YoY and MS volumes by 18 percent YoY.
HASCOL volumes are likely to decline by 35 percent YoY, but are expected to improve by 11 percent MoM.
APL and SHEL volumes are expected to decline by 30 percent YoY and 28 percent YoY, respectively during the month.