The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has called upon the government to implement stricter measures in the battle against the coronavirus epidemic. Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, President of KCCI, emphasized the need for enhanced efforts to combat the threat posed by COVID-19, urging both the government and the public to remain vigilant and proactive in containing the spread of the virus.
(more…)Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz
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FPCCI calls for strategy to save national economy amid global meltdown on coronavirus epidemic
KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the apex trade body of the country, has urged the government to outline strategy to save national economy in the wake of global meltdown on coronavirus epidemic.
FPCCI president Mian Anjum Nisar in a statement on Saturday urged the government to take preventive measures and develop strategy to protect the pace of economic and trade progress of Pakistan from likely impacts of world economic slowdown apprehended by leading think tanks due to the recent global spread of the novel coronavirus.
Globally, more than 145,682 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus. The death toll above 5436, in China death toll 3173, South Korea, mass testing has turned up over 6,000 cases and more than 60 deaths.
Italy has confirmed more than 17660 cases, along with more than 1200 deaths. Iran has announced 514 deaths and 11364 cases. The United States confirmed 41 deaths from the outbreak, along with more than 1264 confirmed cases.
Mian Anjum Nisar said that in order to safe national economic system from the impacts of slowdown of world economy due to coronavirus and other global economic challenges government should announce economic relief package to protect trade and industry of the country. He informed that the Europe is now the “epicentre” of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The Europe Union (EU) is the second biggest trading partner of Pakistan where around 20 percent of Pakistani exports have duty-free access to the Europe, while 70 percent avails preferential treatment.
FPCCI under the current scenario has organized a consultative session seeking feeding back from the stake holders on likely impact of this coronavirus on Pakistan’s foreign trade.
The session was attended by Dy. Governor SBP Dr. Murtaza Syed, Dr. S.M. Qaiser Sajjad Secretary General, Dr. Samreen Sarfarz Pakistan Medical Association, Dr. Adil H. Haider Dean Aga Khan Medical University, Dr. Ijaz, health department of Sindh Government, Aga Fakhar Hussain Additional Secretary Industry & Commerce Sindh, Dr. Saeed SINA Welfare Trust, Prof. Dr. Zarna Wahid, Dow University of Health Sciences, Pakistan National Shipping Corportation and KPT. The session was chaired by Sheikh Sultan Rehman Vice President FPCCI.
The chief of the apex trade body also informed that the US Congress has voted for a US $ 50 billion emergency funding package to fight the coronavirus. Several central banks around the world, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have lowered interest rates to support their economies amid the coronavirus outbreak. Lowering interest rates make borrowing costs cheaper and could encourage business to take loans and spend which will in turn stimulate the economy. He further stated that the IMF is making available US $ 50 billion in emergency funding to help poor and middle-income countries.
Mian Anjum Nisar President FPCCI emphasized that as the inflationary trend shows declining that support to reduce interest rates while on the other hand to boost and safe economic activity all segment of economy needs to be supported and facilitated to contribute in economic growth.
Other- wise we will again face economic crises, lower industrial growth and shifting of industrial units in sick industry. Government should also reduce the cost of doing business and encourage the domestic & foreign investors to make investment in country at this critical time when the global economy is shrinking.
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Weekly Review: coronavirus spread likely to haunt stock market
KARACHI: The spread of coronavirus likely to haunt the stock market in the coming week as it had already dented massively.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that with panic and uncertainty looming over the extension of Coronavirus, global markets are yet to ascertain long term impact.
“We do highlight that international markets have fallen significantly from their all-time high levels whereas the local index had already undergone major correction prior to spread of the virus.”
Announcement of Monetary Policy in the coming week remains a key event for the market, where we expect the SBP to cut the benchmark rate by 50-100 basis points, which can be a positive trigger for the bourse.
With that said, valuations across the board particularly in blue-chip scrips have reached attractive levels.
The market commenced on a negative note on Monday amid sharp decline in oil prices (Arab Light down by 27 percent DoD) after OPEC and Russia failed to agree upon oil production cut and Saudi Arabia engaged in an oil price war, consequentially, the market nose-dived by 2,302 points during the intraday.
The following day, the equity bourse displayed a swift rebound owed to expectations of a cut in interest rate, keeping in view decline in inflation.
However, the sentiment was short lived as Pak Rupee depreciated against USD by 3 percent WoW. Furthermore, the US President imposed a travel ban on most European countries which led to a meltdown in Global Markets given classification confirmation by WHO of Corona as a pandemic.
Following suit, panic was also witnessed at the KSE-100 Index (market halt enforced thrice during the week). The benchmark KSE-100 Index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 36,061 points, down 2,159 points WoW (-5.65 percent).
Sector-wise negative contributions came from i) Commercial Banks (706 points), ii) Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (650 points) and iii) Fertilizers (317 points).
Positive contributions came from Pharmaceuticals (35 points). Scrip-wise negative contributions were led by PPL (262 points), HBL (177 points), and ENGRO (167 points) while positive contributions were led by SEARL (30 points), and INDU (20 points).
Foreign selling continued this week clocking-in at USD 23.0 million compared to a net sell of USD 16.7 million last week.
Selling was witnessed in Cements (USD 8.2 million) and Exploration & Production (USD 6.2 million). On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 25.2 million) and Banks/DFIs (USD 6.0 million). Average Volumes settled at 264 million shares (up by 9 percent WoW) while average value traded clocked-in at USD 81 million (up by 25 percent WoW).
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US stocks jump up after Trump declares coronavirus outbreak emergency
The US stocks rebounded on Friday and jumped up more than 9 percent after US President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1,985 points higher, or 9.4 percent, at 23,185.62. Friday marked the Dow’s biggest-ever point gain. The S&P 500 climbed 9.2 percent to 2,711.02 while the Nasdaq Composite surged 9.3 percent to 7,874.23. The averages posted their biggest one-day gain since October 2008, according to CNBC.
The BBC reported that Wall Street shares rallied on Friday after US President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, freeing up money to fight the spread of the disease.
As the president spoke, the three main US indexes jumped more than 9 percent.
Earlier, London’s FTSE 100 closed up 2.5 percent, retreating from an early surge, while other European indexes made similar moves.
The rally comes a day after Wall Street suffered its biggest losses since 1987.
Investors fear economies could slide into recession as a result of the pandemic, as business is disrupted, events are cancelled and schools in many countries close in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Many indexes around the world have now fallen more than 20 percent from their recent highs – a red flag for recession, the BBC reported.
CNN reported it was the best day for stocks since 2008, but indexes still ended the week with sharp losses. This pretty much sums up the market volatility.
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International arrivals restricted to three airports to control coronavirus spread
KARACHI: Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) has implemented the decision of National Security Council and issued notification to restrict international arrivals at three major airports of the country.
The authority restricted the international arrivals at airports included: Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore; Islamabad International Airport; and Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.
Earlier, the NSC had decided to limit the international passengers to few airports of the country in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The CAA said that international aircraft operation would remain suspended from remaining airports of the country to control the spread of COVID-19.
The authority asked the operators having scheduled operation from the airports being closed for international operations to reschedule their flights as an alternative option to AIIAP Lahore, IIAP Islamabad and JIAP Karachi during lean traffic period at these airports.
1. A National Coordination Committee for COVID-19, to be convened by SAPM on Health, has been established to monitor the situation and make necessary decisions on a daily basis. The Committee will have representation of all provinces and relevant civilian and military stakeholders.
2. NDMA will be the lead operational agency and will coordinate its efforts with the provincial and district authorities for necessary implementation of the preventive and curative actions.
3. All educational/technical institutions, public and private, at all levels will remain closed for three weeks across the country.
4. The entire Western border will be closed for two weeks for all human and commercial traffic. Sost border will continue to remain closed for two further weeks.
5. The Kartarpur Corridor will be closed for Pakistanis. Indian pilgrims will be allowed to continue visiting.
6. Outgoing and incoming international flights will only be allowed at the Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad airports. Screening and administrative measures at these airports will be reinforced immediately.
7. Reinforcement of screening and administrative measures at all sea ports will also be ensured.
8. All public gatherings will be banned with immediate effect. Wedding halls and cinemas will be closed for two weeks. Large conferences will also be barred for the same period. Remaining PSL matches may be conducted without any crowd.
9. Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony and Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology will reach out to Ulema and all relevant stakeholders to work out the modalities for management of congregational religious services in light of the Corona Virus.
10. Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Honorable Chief Justices of the provincial High Courts will be requested to:
(i) instruct all courts not to schedule cases of civil nature for three weeks.
(ii) Judicial Magistrates and Session Court Judges to visit the concerned jails for three weeks to process remand and bail cases.
11. No visitors will be allowed to visit prisoners in jails for three weeks.
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PIA issues flight operation plan for amid coronvirus travel restriction
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Friday issued flight operation plans after Saudi Arabia imposed restriction on travelers from many countries owing to threat of coronavirus spread.
Saudi Arabia
The PIA said that in accordance with new directives from the civil aviation authorities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, PIA will be operating its flights from Pakistan to Jeddah, Medina, Dammam and Riyadh to facilitate the return of the following types of passengers only till March 15, 2020:
Saudi nationals (citizens)
Valid Iqama holders (local residents)
All other types of visa holders are not allowed to enter any of the KSA airports.
Change of booking options for affected passengers:
Any change of booking, cancellation, refund, and/or no-show charges have been waived for all passengers who are booked on Jeddah & Medina bound flights from Pakistan, and are unable to travel due to KSA’s travel restrictions due to coronavirus. This facility is valid till March 31, 2020.
KUWAIT
In accordance with the directives of DG Civil Aviation Kuwait, PIA is temporarily suspending its flights between Pakistan and Kuwait with effect from March 13, 2020 till further notice.
Change of Booking options for affected passengers:
Any change of booking, cancellation, refund, and/or no-show charges have been waived for all passengers who are booked on Pakistan-Kuwait flights and are affected by this travel restriction. This facility is valid till March 31, 2020.
ITALY
In accordance with the travel advisory directed by the government of Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak, PIA is temporarily suspending flight operations between Pakistan and Milan from March 10, 2020 until further notice.
Change of Booking options for affected passengers:
Any change of booking, cancellation, refund, and/or no-show charges have been waived for all passengers who are booked on Pakistan-Milan flights and are unable to travel due to the travel restrictions. This facility is valid till March 31, 2020.
QATAR
In accordance with travel restrictions imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Qatar, PIA is temporarily suspending flight operations from Pakistan to Doha from March 09, 2020 until further notice.
Change of Booking options for affected passengers:
Any change of booking, cancellation, refund, and/or no-show charges have been waived for all passengers who are booked on Doha-bound flights from Pakistan, and are unable to travel due to the above travel restrictions. This facility is valid till 31st March 2020.
CHINA & JAPAN
In accordance with directives from regulatory authorities in Pakistan, PIA has temporarily reduced its services to Beijing and Tokyo. Flights have been suspended till March 31, 2020.
Change of booking options for affected passengers:
PIA advised passengers to contact nearest PIA offices.
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Pakistan shuts down borders, educational institutions to prevent coronavirus spread
ISLAMABAD: The National Security Committee (NSC) on Friday took major decisions including closing borders and educational institutions to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The NSC also decided to evaluate the situation on day to day basis.
It was the first time that an NSC meeting was called on an emerging public health threat; with Federal Ministers on Foreign Affairs, Religious Affairs, Aviation, and Education, Advisor for Finance, Special Assistants to Prime Minister on Health, National Security, and Information, all Chief Ministers along with Chief Secretaries, and Provincial Health Ministers attending the meeting. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, COAS, CAS, CNS, Surgeon General Pakistan Army & other senior military officials also attended the meeting.
The wide-ranging decisions taken by the NSC included closure of educational institutions for three weeks, ban on public gatherings, and complete shutdown of the Western border with Iran and Afghanistan for two weeks along with all airports except Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi for international travel.
However, seaports would remain operational with increased screening arrangements and surveillance so that the trade activities could not be affected.
The NSC, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, had a thorough discussion on evolving situation in the wake of new coronavirus cases in the country, taking the tally of confirmed ones to 28 and resolved to ensure public safety and well-being, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza told the media.
Flanked by Special Advisors to Prime Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Moaeed Yousaf, Dr Zafar Mirza quoted the prime minister as saying, “The safety of people is our top most priority.”
He said the National Coordination Committee would comprise federal ministers concerned, chief ministers, NDMA Chairman, Surgeon General of Pakistan, representatives of Inter-Services Intelligence, Inter Services Public Relations and Directorate of Military Operations, while he would be its convener.
The committee would be authorized to include any other stakeholder, if needed, the SAPM said, adding it would hold its maiden meeting on Saturday at 4: 30 pm.
Dr Zafar said the evolving situation demanded to form such a high-level body so that the pandemic could be curbed through coordinated efforts after taking unanimous decisions at the national level.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) would be the lead operational agency with the required funds at its disposal, he added.
Earlier, the meeting took stock of the measures put in place in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SAPM on Health apprised the forum about the latest situation, preventive measures and detailed roadmap for dealing with the pandemic.
He also spotlighted response and mitigation efforts undertaken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Pakistan that have ensured the country’s success in keeping the number of Coronavirus cases to a minimum; despite neighboring China and Iran, two of the most affected countries.
Chairing the meeting, the Prime Minister called upon the entire nation to unite in playing a positive role in preventing the spread of COVID-19. “There is no need to panic. We are addressing this challenge as one nation by protecting ourselves through precautionary measures,” he said.
The Prime Minister directed all concerned officials to coordinate a comprehensive and unified national response to safeguard the health of the people of Pakistan. All necessary steps have been and will be taken to protect the people from Coronavirus, he said.
The Prime Minister urged people to follow basic hygiene and precautionary measures and place their trust in the Government as the health, safety and well-being of the people is his foremost priority.
In light of the discussion and deliberations of the NSC, the following decisions were taken, to be implemented with immediate effect and to be reviewed at the end of the identified time period for each item:
1. A National Coordination Committee for COVID-19, to be convened by SAPM on Health, has been established to monitor the situation and make necessary decisions on a daily basis. The Committee will have representation of all provinces and relevant civilian and military stakeholders.
2. NDMA will be the lead operational agency and will coordinate its efforts with the provincial and district authorities for necessary implementation of the preventive and curative actions.
3. All educational/technical institutions, public and private, at all levels will remain closed for three weeks across the country.
4. The entire Western border will be closed for two weeks for all human and commercial traffic. Sost border will continue to remain closed for two further weeks.
5. The Kartarpur Corridor will be closed for Pakistanis. Indian pilgrims will be allowed to continue visiting.
6. Outgoing and incoming international flights will only be allowed at the Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad airports. Screening and administrative measures at these airports will be reinforced immediately.
7. Reinforcement of screening and administrative measures at all sea ports will also be ensured.
8. All public gatherings will be banned with immediate effect. Wedding halls and cinemas will be closed for two weeks. Large conferences will also be barred for the same period. Remaining PSL matches may be conducted without any crowd.
9. Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony and Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology will reach out to Ulema and all relevant stakeholders to work out the modalities for management of congregational religious services in light of the Corona Virus.
10. Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Honorable Chief Justices of the provincial High Courts will be requested to:
(i) instruct all courts not to schedule cases of civil nature for three weeks.
(ii) Judicial Magistrates and Session Court Judges to visit the concerned jails for three weeks to process remand and bail cases.11. No visitors will be allowed to visit prisoners in jails for three weeks.
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SECP discusses stock market situation
ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has discussed the situation of the stock market, which triggered halt for third time in this week.
The SECP team lead by the Chairman SECP and Commissioner(SM) held a detailed meeting with the CEOs of Pakistan Stock Exchange, National Clearing Company and Central Depository Company (Self-Regulatory Organizations – SROs) this morning, to review and discuss the stock market situation, risk management and business continuity.
The index based market halts were triggered for the third time during this week. This cooling-off period gave an opportunity to investors to align their trading strategy and collection of margins by the Clearing Company.
The participants of the meeting affirmed that risk management system was functioning efficiently and margins were being collected timely.
The Market operations were running smoothly as a whole. The SROs further apprised that their business continuity plans and disaster recovery setup was in place based on SECP’s earlier instructions.
The Chairman SECP emphasized on conducting drills to ensure remote operations of trading, clearing, settlement and custody services while allowing remote access of market participants to such systems in case onsite operations or physical access was impacted.
He also suggested adoption of further preventive measures against spread of coronavirus.
The SECP advised SROs to remain vigilant, continue to provide uninterrupted access to market participants and ensure effective risk management while maintaining actively engagement with their boards of directors and committees for close coordination.
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Rupee gains 16 paisas, breaks 4-day losing streak
In Karachi, the Pakistani Rupee showcased resilience on Friday, gaining 16 paisas against the US Dollar and breaking a four-day losing streak in the interbank foreign exchange market.
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Stock market gains 104 points amid third trading halt
KARACHI: The stock market gained 104 points on Friday despite third market halt in the week was witnessed.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Index closed at 36,060 points as against 35,957 points showing an increase of 104 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that third consecutive market halt was met by one of the largest pull backs in recent times at the bourse.
Initially market opened on a negative note with -614 points and 0.86 million traded at opening bell.
Situation worsened and caused the halt at -1683 points by 9:25 AM and 25 million shares traded on KSE100.
Market re-opened at -1267 points, registering a recovery of 416 points and continued the path of recovery by the close of first session.
Second session opened -347 points, which showed a recovery of 1336 points, however, the index swung back into negative territory and yet again managed to post a recovery in MoC when the index posted gain.
Recovery was mainly seen in Oil & Gas, Banking and Cement sectors which have heavy weightage on Index.
Market recovery largely banked on improving sentiments in regional and global markets, whereby India and South Korea were seen banning short sale.
In addition, international crude price also posted an intra-day gain of around 5 percent that helped investors make a positive view on pertinent stocks.
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+117 points), Pharma (+35 points), O&GMCs (+28 points), Chemical (+23 points), Banks (-63 points), Cement (-40 points), Tobacco (-37 points).
Volumes increased from 230.7 million shares to 290.1 million shares (+26 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 42 percent to reach US$ 87.8 million as against US$ 61.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BOP, MLCF, FCCL, HASCOL DGKC, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include OGDC (+57 points), PSO (+32 points), POL (+26 points), HBL (+25 points) and ENGRO (+25 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-51 points), UBL (-48 points), MCB (-42 points), PAKT (-37 points), and FFC (-16 points).