Business

Stocks fall as delay in IMF talks, Saudi crown prince visit weigh

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Investors concerned as world commodities rise.
Shelving of Saudi crown prince visit dents sentiment.
Losses led by exploration and production sector stocks.

KARACHI: Stocks Monday got off to a bad start to close the first day of the week weaker as investors weighed a reported holdup on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) front amid ongoing political uncertainties.

After remaining soaked in the red ink, the whole day, Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index settled at 42,851 after losing 242 points or 0.56% compared to the last closing on Friday.

Benchmark KSE-100 index intra-day trading curve. — PSX data portal

Topline Securities in a note said a delay in Pakistan-IMF talks, rescheduling of the Saudi crown prince’s visit and a rally in the global commodity markets where international oil prices were trading up over 3%.

During the day, exploration and production, fertiliser and technology sector stocks contributed negatively to the index.

Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company, Pakistan Services Limited, Engro Corporation, and Pakistan Oil Fields lost 141 points, cumulatively.

On the flip side, TRG Pakistan, Lotte Chemical, and Habib Bank Limited together added 133 points.

Darson Research said stocks went downhill from the word ‘go’.

“Earlier, as the equities started going down volatility emerged immediately, resulting in a selling spree that pulled the index below the 43,0000-point mark,” the brokerage said.

Over 185 million shares traded today at the bourse while the total value clocked in at Rs6 billion. Hascol Petroleum led the volumes chart with a trade of 26.5 million shares. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are Hascol Petroleum, Pakistan Tobacco Company, Lotte Chemical, TRG Pakistan, and WorldCall Telecom.

Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in its post-market analysis said the trade commenced with a negative gap and proceeded to hit an intraday low of 42,761.88 points due to a lack of investor participation.

“Mainboard activity remained flat as the third-tier stocks continued to be the volume leaders,” the AHL report said.

Sectors that dragged the index down turned out to be exploration and production (-86.5 points), cement (-38.4 points), fertiliser (-37.2 points), commercial banks (-37 points), and miscellaneous (-31.3 points).

Business

Robust activity lets PSX climb above 115,000 level again.

Published

6 hours ago

Farwa

On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) resumed its upward trend, crossing 115,000 points once more.

The PSX had strong action in the morning session, as the KSE-100 index increased by 1,000 points to 115,138.

The notoriously volatile PSX closed Thursday at 114,037 points, up 594 points.

DOLLAR DEPRECIES

Meanwhile, in the interbank market this morning, the US dollar fell 7 paisas to Rs278.65 against the Pakistani rupee.

Business

SBP will announce monetary policy on January 27.

Published

6 hours ago

Farwa

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will release its monetary policy on Monday.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP will convene on the first day of the following week to make decisions on monetary policy.

The Monetary Policy decision will be announced by Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad at a news conference on the same day after the MPC meeting, according to an official release.

In December, the central bank reduced policy rates by 200 basis points (bps) to 13 percent.

“In November 2024, headline inflation fell to 4.9 percent year on year, meeting the MPC’s estimates. This decrease was mostly caused by the ongoing decline in food inflation and the phasing out of the impact of the gas tariff increase in November 2023,” SBP stated in an official release.

“However, the Committee noted that core inflation, at 9.7 percent, is proving to be sticky, while consumer and business inflation expectations remain volatile.” To that end, the Committee restated its previous assessment that inflation may remain volatile in the short term before stabilizing within the target range.

“At the same time, growth prospects have slightly improved, as evidenced by a recent increase in high-frequency indicators of economic activity.” Overall, the Committee concluded that its approach of gradual policy rate decreases is keeping inflationary and external account pressures under control while promoting long-term economic growth.

Business

Finance Minister Meets With World Leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

During his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with officials of organisations and leaders of many nations.
Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Younas, met with Mohammad Aurangzeb.
On the fringes of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 Opening Banquet, there was an informal meeting.
Additionally, the Finance Minister met with Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Both leaders discussed economic cooperation and bilateral ties.
Muhammad Aurangzeb also had a meeting with Dp World’s Rizwan Soomro and Yuvraj Narayan.
They talked about how to strengthen Pakistan’s logistics and infrastructure systems to support trade.
“The Pakistani government is committed to advancing joint projects and values partnerships in both business-to-business and business-to-government cooperation,” the finance minister added.