Karachi, February 27, 2021: The market remained on the back foot for most of the week, finally ending down on 45,865 levels (down 0.8 Percent WoW). A correction was on the cards, given the week coincided with the futures’ rollover.
Nonetheless, activity retained its buoyance of recent weeks, relatively unchanged at an average of 589 million/day this week, with impetus from the quick flow of incoming corporate results.
Another event that had a bearing on investor sentiment during the week was the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review, in which it was decided to keep Pakistan on the grey list until the next review. Moreover, Pakistan and the IMF are discussing options to either increase the size of the remaining loan tranches or extend the time frame of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) beyond 2022.
On the economic front, the current account deficit (CAD) shrank to US$229 million in January (US$652 million in Dec-2019), surpassing general expectations of a further potential increase.
Other noteworthy news during the week included (1) Remittances beat Moody’s expectation, (2) Steel rebar prices feared to cross Rs150,000/ton, (3) Chinese firm plans $150m industrial park in Lahore to lift exports, and (4) Reserves fall by US$17 million.
