【Daily】20 March Brief of Pak BizNews

-Daily Market-

KSE 100 41,330 ▼0.87%

KMI 30 71,361 ▼0.84%

KASB Tech Index 492 ▼2.52

 

KASB Market View

• Macroeconomic economic concerns and the heightened political noise will

likely keep the market’s performance ranged-bound. The upcoming CPI

inflation reading may influence expectations of monetary policy tightening.

• Confirmation of external funding, including Qatar's USD 2.0bn may ease

pressure on the Pak Rupee

• The recent political noise may keep investors concerned over the near term

 

National News

 

Pakistan receives $500m from China’s ICBC bank

Pakistan has received a loan tranche from China of $500 million that will help the country shore up its depleting foreign exchange reserves as the government battles an ongoing economic crisis.

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40232142/pakistan-receives-500m-from-chinas-icbc-bank

 

Rs50per litre petrol subsidy for poor

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that low-income poor people will be given a subsidy of Rs50 per litre under the petroleum relief package.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1051783-rs50per-litre-petrol-subsidy-for-poor

 

PSO’s inter-corporate debt swells to Rs1.050 trillion

Financial vulnerabilities of the country’s state-owned oil marketing company Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have further increased as its receivables and payables have swelled by

Rs26 billion in a week, data available with The News showed on Friday.

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=185003

 

Textile exports dip to 21-month low in February

Textile exports continued a downtrend to a fifth consecutive month in February by falling 29.9 percent year-on-year to $1.18 billion, lowest in last 21 months, data from

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=185001

 

SBP abolishes MDR on POS transactions

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has eliminated the merchant discount rate (MDR) of 1.5 percent for point of sale (credit and debit card) transactions and revised the interchange reimbursement fee (IRF) for cards issued in Pakistan.

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=185285

 

OGRA to hold exchange rate meeting

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has convened a meeting on March 21 to brief and align all the stakeholders with the prescribed format of “exchange rate mechanism” as devised and approved by the federal government.

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=184997

 

Cotton: cabinet approves raise in support price

The federal cabinet on Friday approved the decision to increase the support price of cotton to Rs8,500 per maund (40kg).

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40232130/cotton-cabinet-approves-raise-in-support-price

 

SPI inflation up 0.96pc WoW

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based inflation for the week ended March 16, 2023, recorded an increase of 0.96 per cent due to an increase in the prices of food items including tomatoes (18.06per cent), tea Lipton (9.26per cent), potatoes (4.52per cent), bananas (4per cent), sugar (2.70per cent), wheat flour (2.40per cent), cooking oil 5 litre (1.20per cent) and non-food items, lawn (5.77per cent), diesel (4.65per cent) and petrol (1.84per cent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40232127/spi-inflation-up-096pc-wow

 

Commodities and Currency: 1-Day Change

Gold: USD 1979 ▲0.27%

Silver: USD 22 ▲0.13%

Crude Oil: USD 67 ▼0.51%

USD-PKR: Rs 278 ▼1.15%