Karachi, Pakistan – On Tuesday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released the official exchange rates for December 21, 2021, providing customers with crucial information based on the weighted average rates of commercial banks.
(more…)Author: Faisal Shahnawaz
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Pakistan’s CAD balloons to $7.1 billion in five months
Pakistan’s economic landscape faces a significant challenge as the country’s current account deficit (CAD) has sharply widened to $7.1 billion during the initial five months of the current fiscal year.
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SBP issues KIBOR rates on December 20, 2021
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued the Karachi Interbank Offered Rates (KIBOR) as of December 20, 2021.
Following are the latest KIBOR rates:
Tenor BID OFFER 1 – Week 9.68 10.18 2 – Week 9.78 10.28 1 – Month 9.88 10.38 3 – Month 10.24 10.49 6 – Month 11.01 11.26 9 – Month 11.10 11.60 1 – Year 11.20 11.70 -
Stocks gain 439 points on stable market hints
KARACHI: Stocks gained 439 points on Monday as an outcome of the recent Open Market Operation (OMO) conducted by the central bank hinted at stability in the market.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,340 points as against last Friday’s closing of 43,901 points, showing an increase of 439 points.
READ MORE: Weekly Review: stock market likely to stay positive
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE-100 index continued its bullish trend as investor confidence boosted up from last week’s OMO injection creating stability in the market.
Profit-taking occurred in the first trading hour then the market stayed in the green zone throughout the day. A bullish trend was observed mainly in the cement and steel sector.
In the technology sector, TRG made the journey to the north by hitting the circuit as the board of directors has decided to continue to work towards further maximizing the value and capital returns of its proceeds for the company and its shareholders.
READ MORE: Stocks gain 169 points on SBP’s OMO
TRGP further requested TRGI to directly or indirectly provide value, benefit, or liquidity to its shareholders. It was further decided to park TRGP’s portion of the liquid assets in a separate wholly-owned subsidiary of TRGI (“SPV”) which will time to time purchase shares of TRG from the stock market.
Moreover, activity continued to remain side-ways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cements (+101 points), Technology & Communication (+88 points), Fertilizer (+58 points), Commercial Banks (+35 points) and E&P (+30 points).
Volumes decreased from 252.2 million shares to 238.5 million shares (-5.5 million DoD). Traded value increased by 16.7 million to reach US$ 52.8 million as against US$ 45.2 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, WTL, BYCO, SILK and TELE.
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Rupee ends unchanged amid curbs on forex buying
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee (PKR) ended unchanged against the dollar on Monday as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) imposed curbs on buying of foreign exchange.
The rupee ended at Rs178.04 to the dollar, which was the same closing on last Friday, in the interbank foreign exchange market.
READ MORE: Dollar hits record high of Rs178.04 at interbank closing
The closing was also the historic low of the local currency against the greenback.
A day earlier, the SBP imposed a curb on buying of foreign currency by individuals from the open market.
READ MORE: SBP sets limits for sale of foreign exchange to individuals
The central bank sets a limit of $10,000 per day for an individual and $100,000 per year for the individual. Besides, the restriction of the SBP also imposed the requirement of certain documents for the purchase of the foreign currency.
It is worth mentioning that the SBP last week announced the monetary policy statement and increased the policy rate by 100 basis points to 9.75 per cent to curb the domestic demand for curtailing inflation. Further, the intention of the central bank was to support the rupee as well.
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Customers’ exchange rates on December 20, 2021
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.
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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.