STOCK EXCHANGES AROUND THE WORLD
Pakistan stocks dragged down by heavy rupee depreciation
The stock market once again dived into the red zone as the latest round of rupee depreciation pushed the benchmark index down by over 700 points in intra-day trading on Thursday. The rupee dropped to an all-time low at 148.50 to the US dollar in the inter-bank market earlier in the day, weakening by over 5percent, or Rs7.10, from Wednesday’s close of 141.4. The fresh depreciation prompted renewed stock selling as investors reacted with panic to the latest development.
As a result, the KSE-100 index, after a brief upward opening, dropped to an intra-day low of 33,574.85 points. Overall, trading volumes fell to 108.6 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 110.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.8 billion. Shares of 329 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 31 stocks closed higher, 286 declined and 12 remained unchanged. K-Electric was the volume leader with 14.6 million shares, losing Rs0.22 to close at Rs4. It was followed by Pakistan International Bulk Terminal with 6.9 million shares, losing Rs0.7 to close at Rs8.04 and Unity Foods with 6.5 million shares, losing Rs0.95 to close at Rs9.25.
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US stocks mixed
Wall Street struggled for gains in an up-and-down session on Friday as mixed headlines on trade dampened positive consumer sentiment data, sending investors into the weekend with little enthusiasm.
The Dow inched up, while the Nasdaq lost ground and the bellwether S&P 500 was nominally lower, hovering more than 2% below its record high reached on April 30. All three were on course for their second successive weekly declines after failing to fully recover from Monday’s steep sell-off.
China added fuel to the fire of the increasingly rancorous trade war with the United States with a defiant front-page commentary on the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, ratcheting up tensions the day after US President Donald Trump officially blacklisted Chinese telecom Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from doing business with US companies.
Elsewhere in the multi-front US tariff war, Trump confirmed he would delay imposing imported auto tariffs by as much as six months, and agreed to lift metal tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Consumer sentiment jumped 5.3% in May to its highest reading in 15 years, according to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index.
Tariff jitters dragged on key industrial shares.
Farm equipment maker Deere & Co was the biggest percentage loser on the S&P 500, dipping 6.4% after cutting its full-year forecast.
Caterpillar Inc, 3M Co, Textron, General Dynamics and Fedex Corp all helped pull the industrial sector 0.5% lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 23.01 points, or 0.09%, to 25,885.69, the S&P 500 lost 2.54 points, or 0.09%, to 2,873.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 28.94 points, or 0.37%, to 7,869.11.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, eight were trading in the red, with energy and industrials seeing the largest percentage losses.
With 460 of S&P 500 companies having posted first-quarter results, 75.2% of which beat analyst expectations, the mostly upbeat first-quarter earnings season is nearly complete.
Active wear company Under Armour Inc gained 7.3% following JP Morgan’s upgrade of the stock to “overweight.”
Shares of Luckin Coffee Inc jumped 24.6% as the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp made its debut.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.91-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.76-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 87 new lows.
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India Sensex surges
Notwithstanding weakness in the global markets and rising crude oil prices, the domestic equities extended gains for a second session on Friday with Sensex and Nifty rising 1.5 percent each ahead of exit poll results on Sunday.
The last phase of the seven-stage Lok Sabha elections will wrap up this weekend with exit polls starting to come out on Sunday evening. Overall, BSE Sensex rallied 537 points or 1.44 per cent to close at 37,931 while NSE barometer Nifty ended the day at 11,407, up 150 points or 1.33 per cent. Volatility index India VIX eased 0.89 per cent to the 28.12 level.
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France stocks lower at close
France stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gas & Water, General Financial and Foods & Drugs sectors led shares lower. At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.18 percent, while the SBF 120 index lost 0.23 percent. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 318 to 242 and 76 ended unchanged. The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.78 percent to 14.03.
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Germany stocks lower
Germany stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Retail, Basic Resources and Technology sectors led shares lower. At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 0.58 percent, while the MDAX index lost 0.73 percent, and the TecDAX index declined 0.51 percent. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by 439 to 244 and 88 ended unchanged. The DAX volatility index, which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was up 0.71percent to 15.54. EUR/USD was down 0.06percent to 1.1165, while EUR/GBP rose 0.52percent to 0.8774. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11percent at 97.782.
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FTSE 100 drops as just eat rues amazon backing rival
London’s main share index dipped on Friday, as Just Eat slumped after Amazon backed rival food delivery firm Deliveroo in a funding round, but losses were limited as exporters were helped by a slide in sterling amid renewed Brexit jitters. The FTSE 100 lost 0.1pc, but still bagged weekly gains after a turbulent few sessions largely dominated by global trade relations. The FTSE 250 slipped 0.2 percent. Online takeaway service Just Eat tumbled 8.2 percent, its steepest one-day decline in more than a year, after rival Deliveroo said it had gained Amazon’s backing in a $575 million funding round. The FTSE 100’s decline on Friday came after three sessions of gains, as markets took stock of a plethora of news on Sino-US trade relations, which were strained further after a volley of tariffs and US sanctions on Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.
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Japan stocks move higher
Japan stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Warehousing, Gas & Water and Power sectors led shares higher. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.89 percent. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2700 to 836 and 176 ended unchanged. The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 13.64 percent to 18.99. Crude oil for June delivery was up 0.32 percent or 0.20 to $63.07 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July rose 0.10 percent or 0.07 to hit $72.69 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.06 percent or 0.75 to trade at $1286.95 a troy ounce.