US SHARES FLAT AS MAY JOBS REPORT DISAPPOINTS
Wall Street stocks were little changed early on Friday after the Labor Department reported the US economy added just 138,000 jobs in May, far fewer than predicted. It is said that wage growth remained tepid despite the drop in the unemployment rate to 4.3 percent, a 16-year low.
The key takeaway from the employment report is that wage inflation continues to be dormant despite increased hiring activity. But some economists note that seasonal factors could make the May data appear weaker, and expect a rebound in coming months.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached at 21,145.49, up a hair. The broad-based S&P 500 was down slightly to 2,430.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.2 percent to 6,257.70.All three indices closed at records on Thursday.
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KSE 100 SHARE INDEX DECLINES
The benchmark KSE 100-share Index closed at 48,555.30 on Friday, declining 0.46 percent or 225.51 points. Experts said that the worst week for Pakistan equities since February 2009 came to an end as the benchmark index shed over 4,000 points or 7.8 percent, with Friday being the only day that saw late buying from value hunters.
They also said reported panic selling in MSCI Emerging Markets’ stocks from institutions contributed the most to the decline as rumours were doing rounds of local smart money selling to meet possible redemptions while lack of clarity on the foreign institutional investors’ selling was also one of the primary concerns. Major laggards of the index were HBL (-1.61%), UBL (-1.57%), OGDC (-3.35%) and Engro (-0.28%) as they cumulatively contributed -169 points to the index.Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the steel sector where Aisha Steel Mills (+2.36%) and Dost Steel Limited (+0.75%) closed in the green zone whereas International Steels Limited (-3.10%) and International Industries Limited (-2.92%) closed in the red.Overall, trading volumes declined to 221 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 403 million.
Shares of 356 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 155 stocks closed higher and 190 declined while 11 remained equal. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs15.7 billion.Power Cement (right shares) was the volume leader with 16.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs2.09.
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SRI LANKA SHARES LOWER
Sri Lanka stocks were lower after the end on Friday, as losses in the Telecoms, Palm Oil and Trading sectors led shares lower.At the end in Colombo, the CSE All-Share declined 0.07 percent.The best performers of the session on the CSE All-Share were Kalamazoo Systems PLC, which rose 44.72 percent or 237.92 points to trade at 769.90 at the close. Meanwhile, F L C Holdings PLC added 18.75 percent or 0.600 points to end at 3.800 and Kalpitiya Beach Resort PLC was up 16.67 percent or 0.500 points to 3.500 in late trade.The worst performers of the session were Namunukula Plantations PLC, which fell 9.84 percent or 9.40 points to trade at 86.10 at the close. Kotmale Holdings PLC declined 8.34 percent or 21.40 points to end at 235.10 and Office Equipment PLC was down 6.61 percent or 3.80 points to 53.70.
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ASIAN AND EUROPEAN MARKETS RALLY
Asian and European stock markets rallied Friday, after a record-breaking Wall Street performance, as forecast-busting US jobs figures increased hopes of bright non-farm payrolls data.
The news propelled London’s FTSE 100 to yet another record high at 7,598.99 points in morning deals, before trimming gains ahead of next week’s British election. While there are concerns about the future of Trump’s economic agenda, strong data have taken the front seat in driving global equity gains in recent weeks, pushing them to multi-year highs.
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CHINA SHARES LITTLE CHANGED
China stocks closed the week little changed on Friday, bucking a global equity rally as financiers worried about tightening liquidity and conflicting signals on the health of the world’s second-largest economy.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.3 percent to 3,486.51 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1 percent to 3,105.54. For the week, the CSI300 inched up 0.2 percent, while the SSEC slipped 0.1 percent. Over the weekend, the securities regulator published rules aimed at preventing major shareholders of listed companies from reducing their holdings in an “intensive, massive and disorderly” manner that “disturbed market order and dented investor confidence”. Most market watchers expect China’s economic growth to slow gradually in coming months after a strong first quarter.
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TOKYO’S NIKKEI CLOSES ABOVE 20,000 POINTS
Japan’s benchmark stock index ended above 20,000 on Friday, chalking up its best finish in nearly 2-year after a record close on Wall Street and as strong Japan Inc profits boost hopes for the country’s economy.
The Nikkei 225 jumped 1.60 percent, or 317.25 points, to end at 20,177.28, the first time it has crossed 20,000 since December 2015 and the highest since August that year. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 1.64 percent, or 26.06 points, to end at 1,612.20. The strong showing followed a record close for all three main indexes on Wall Street in response to a better-than-expected jobs report. Tokyo led Asian markets higher as the yen retreated against the dollar after payrolls firm ADP said the US economy created more than a quarter of a million jobs in May, boosting hopes for government figures later Friday.