Karachi, Pakistan – On Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) unveiled the official exchange rates for December 20, 2021, providing customers with essential information based on the weighted average rates of commercial banks.
(more…)Author: Faisal Shahnawaz
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Hyderabad intelligence to auction vehicles on Dec 21
The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I), Hyderabad, is set to conduct an auction of confiscated imported vehicles on December 21, 2021.
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Exchange rate declaration must for services exports
KARACHI: The Sindh government has made mandatory the requirement of exchange rate declaration to avail sales tax concessions on export of services.
In this regard, the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) issued a notification to amend Sales Tax on Services Rules, 2011.
The provincial revenue board amended the changes in Annex-D of the Sindh Sales Tax on Services Return in Form SST-03.
The decision to amend the rules has been taken considering the high volatility in exchange rate as the Pak Rupee hit record low at Rs178.04 on December 17, 2021 and lost around 13 per cent against the dollar since start of the current fiscal year.
READ MORE: Dollar hits record high of Rs178.04 at interbank closing
As per the amended sales tax on service return form, an exporter is required to provide name of the foreign buyer or the non-resident service recipient. The other details shall be provided by the exporters, included: country to which service exported; description of the service exported; tariff heading of the service exported; 4-digit code as per State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Code List; Invoice No.; Invoice Date etc.
The exporters are also required to value of the service exported, included: in foreign exchange (with currency name); exchange rate; in Pak Rupee.
The exporters further required to provide details, included: amount of sales tax involved being claimed to be exempt (in Pak Rupee); Reference No. of the notification / authority for exemption; and actual/estimated date for receipt of sale value in foreign exchange.
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Weekly Review: stock market likely to stay positive
KARACHI: The stock market likely to stay positive in the coming week owing to expectation of ease in money market yields.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market to remain positive in the upcoming week.
With recent injection by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) via Open Market Operation (OMO) for 63 days, money market yields are expected to come down further.
READ MORE: Stocks gain 169 points on SBP’s OMO
This is most likely to reignite investors’ interest in the stock market. Furthermore, scrips have opened up to attractive valuations.
Moreover, mini budget expected to be announced soon, where the market is expected to react to any introduction, re-imposition or removal of duties and subsidies.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 4.7x (2022) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 14.9x while offering a dividend yield of ~8.8 per cent versus ~2.2 per cent offered by the region.
The market commenced on a negative note amid anticipation of a massive hike in policy rate. Moreover, expectation of announcement of mini-budget further dented the sentiment.
However, market recovered post Monetary Policy announcement as clarity was provided by the SBP in its forward guidance suggesting no further hike in near-term.
READ MORE: Key policy rate goes up to 9.75%; SBP raises 250bps in less than month
Along with this, SBP also disclosed that it is close to achieving mildly positive real interest rate, which further boosted investor sentiment (index going up by 1,200 points on Wednesday).
In addition, on the external front, growth in remittances by 9.7 per cent to USD 12.9 billion in 5MFY22 was a positive development. However, bears returned as investors resorted to profit taking.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s remittances fall by 6.6% in November 2021
Furthermore, the USD/PKR Parity witnessed another all-time low of PKR 178.04. The market closed at 43,901 points, gaining 505 points (up by 1.2 per cent) WoW.
READ MORE: Dollar hits record high of Rs178.04 at interbank closing
Sector-wise positive contributions came from i) Cement (282 points), ii) Technology & Communication (173 points), iii) Textile Composite (74 points), iv) Engineering (70 points), and v) Refinery (50 points). Whereas, sectors which contributed negatively were i) Commercial Banks (208 points) and ii) Fertilizer (17 points). Scrip-wise positive contributors were TRG (112 points), LUCK (111 points), MLCF (45 points), SYS (43 points) and CHCC (36 points). Meanwhile, scrip-wise negative contribution came from MCB (71 points), UBL (63 points) and MEBL (29 points).
Foreign selling continued this week, clocking-in at USD 3.5 million compared to a net sell of USD 0.99 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in Cements (USD 1.9 million) and Technology and Communications (USD 1.9 million). On the local front, buying was reported by Companies (USD 5.1 million) followed by Individuals (USD 2.7 million). Average volumes clocked-in at 265 million shares (up by 30 per cent WoW) while average value traded settled at USD 84 million (up by 13 per cent WoW).
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Stocks gain 169 points on SBP’s OMO
KARACHI: The stocks gained 169 points on Friday owing to injection of liquidity by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) via Open Market Operation (OMO) for 63 days at 9.9 per cent, a signal of stability
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 43,901 points as against previous day’s closing of 43,731 points, showing an increase of 169 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index closed in the green zone as the market celebrated SBP injection of liquidity via OMO for 63 days at 9.9 per cent, a signal of stability.
Market stayed volatile in the first hour of opening due to declining foreign exchange reserves and FTSE rebalancing, expectation of foreign selling spree. Soon after OMO injection news clocked in, a bullish trend was observed mainly in the cement and steel sector.
Main board activity remained gloomy. On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.
Moving forward, economic numbers like CPI, CAD, FX reserves along with timing of IMF program resumption will play a vital role in shaping the direction of the market.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cements (+70 points), Commercial Banks (+60 points), E&P (+35 points) and Technology & Communication (+28 points).
Volumes decreased from 312.1 million shares to 252.2 million shares (-19.2 per cent DoD). Traded value also decreased by 20.4 per cent to reach US$ 45.2 million as against US$ 56.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, HUMNL, TELE, TRG and BYCO.
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SBP issues KIBOR rates on December 17, 2021
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued the Karachi Interbank Offered Rates (KIBOR) as of December 17, 2021.
Following are the latest KIBOR rates:
Tenor BID OFFER 1 – Week 9.84 10.34 2 – Week 9.89 10.39 1 – Month 9.98 10.48 3 – Month 10.32 10.57 6 – Month 11.12 11.37 9 – Month 11.19 11.69 1 – Year 11.24 11.74 -
Dollar hits record high of Rs178.04 at interbank closing
KARACHI: The US dollar breached the level of Rs178 on Friday due to mounting demand for the foreign currency for import payments.
The Pak Rupee (PKR) ended at Rs178.04 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs177.98 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts said that dollar demand for import and corporate payments remained high during the day. They said that dollar demand for import and corporate payments remained high due to the closing of the year.
READ MORE: Dollar maintains record high level at Rs177.98
They said that the measures taken by the State Bank through tightening of monetary policy has failed to support the rupee.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on December 14, 2021 announced a monetary statement and increased the key policy rate by 100 basis points to 9.75 per cent. The SBP increased the policy rate by 250 basis points in less than a month to support the local currency by reducing the demand.
READ MORE: Rupee falls to new record low despite policy rate hike
The dealers said that there was no letup in import payment. The import bill of the country surged by 69.17 per cent to $33 billion during the first five months (July – November) 2021/2022 as compared with $19.47 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
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Pakistan’s foreign investment surges by 73% in 5 months
KARACHI: Pakistan’s total foreign investment surged by 73 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal year, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.
The total foreign investment increased to $455.5 million during July – November 2021/2022 as compared with $263.4 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The total foreign private investment registered a growth of 1.8 per cent to $534 million during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared with Rs525 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Out of total foreign private investment, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) registered a growth of 12.3 per cent to $797.7 million during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared with $710 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The other component of the foreign investment, the portfolio investment registered a decline of 42 per cent. The portfolio investment recorded an outflow of $263 million during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared with the outflow of $185.5 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The foreign public investment recorded an increase of 70 per cent due to decline in outflow of investment against debt securities. The outflow in debt securities recorded $79 million during July – November of fiscal year 2021/2022 as compared with the outflow of $261 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.
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Customers’ exchange rates on December 17, 2021
Karachi, Pakistan – On Friday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) unveiled the official exchange rates for December 17, 2021, providing customers with essential information based on the weighted average rates of commercial banks.
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Employers criticize increase in key policy rate
Karachi: Employers have strongly criticized the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for recent increase in policy rate amid rising inflation.
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