KSE-100 inches upward in volatile session
Investor sentiment turned slightly bullish at the stock exchange on Monday, fuelled by hopes for a lower inflation reading for August 2020, which aided the market to close up by 55 points in a tumultuous trading session. Market participants pinned their hopes on an expected drop in the inflation rate for August, which may lead to a further reduction in the policy rate in the monetary policy announcement in September. In addition to that, the rupee staged a modest recovery against the US dollar in the past few days, lending support to the market. Uncertainty persisted throughout the session and restrained the market from posting massive gains. Nevertheless, the optimistic mood helped the bourse to close in the green. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 54.71 points, or 0.13 percent, to settle at 41,110.93 points. It is said that the market gained a total of 255 points during the session, however, due to selling pressure in banking and fertiliser sectors the index saw erosion of almost all the gains. The index closed up by 55 points, supported by an increase in stock prices of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) in the last half hour. The cement sector performed well, which saw DG Khan Cement, Lucky Cement and Kohat Cement contribute positively to the index. The cement sector recorded the highest trading volume with 81.4 million shares changing hands, followed by banks (71.7 million) and technology firms (61.1 million). Among individual stocks, BankIslami topped the volumes with around 41 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan (40 million) and Power Cement (R) (32 million). Overall, trading volumes soared to 451.7 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 238.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs16.3 billion. Shares of 413 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 198 stocks closed higher, 196 declined and 19 remained unchanged. BankIslami was the volume leader with 40.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.94 to close at Rs9.93. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 40.1 million shares, losing Rs4.53 to close at Rs58.68 and Power Cement (R) with 32 million shares, losing Rs0.1 to close at Rs0.05. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs130.5 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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Saudi stock exchange taps Nasdaq tech for derivatives market
The First exchange-traded derivatives product is MT30 Index Futures, an index futures contract based on the MSCI Tadawul 30 Index (MT30), which will benefit from central counterparty clearing by Muqassa.
This new market offering provides regional and international investors the necessary hedging tools to manage risk, and to expand exposure opportunities to one of the largest and most liquid markets in the world, the Saudi market. As the market infrastructure develops, Tadawul plans to roll out more derivatives products such as Single Stock Futures, Single Stock Options and Index Options.
It is said this is a significant step in introducing sophisticated market products and creating a trading environment that is attractive to local as well as international investors. Furthermore, the launch of the derivatives market in Saudi Arabia is one of the Financial Sector Development Program’s (FSDP) key initiatives under the Saudi Vision 2030. It marks a significant step in introducing sophisticated market products and creating a trading environment attractive to local as well as international hedgers and traders. Nasdaq’s market technology powers more than 250 of the world’s market infrastructure organizations and market participants, including broker-dealers, exchanges, clearinghouses, central securities depositories and regulators, in over 50 countries with end-to-end, mission-critical technology solutions.
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Taiwan stock poised to snap losing streak
The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, sliding more than 100 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just shy of the 12,730-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism for economic recovery, although a rising number of coronavirus cases may limit the upside. The European markets were down on Friday and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and cement companies, while the financials came in mixed. For the day, the index sank 68.46 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 12,728.85 after trading between 12,674.57 and 12,799.16. Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.12 percent, while Fubon Financial collected 0.46 percent, First Financial added 0.71 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 2.03 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.23 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.16 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.72 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.87 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.47 percent, Taiwan Cement dropped 0.80 percent and Mega Financial, CTBC Financial, E Sun Financial, Hon Hai Precision and Formosa Plastic all were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks moved higher on Friday, sending the NASDAQ and S&P 500 to fresh record closing highs.
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Sensex crashes 800 points to end 2pc lower
Sensex reversed its six-day winning run and plunged 994 points from the day’s high following fresh tensions along the India-China border at Ladakh. The index saw a robust opening and even hit the crucial 40,000 mark, but gave up all gains and crashed 2.5 percent to end at 38473.82 points. All 30 constituents on the index, barring ONGC and TCS, closed in the red. Nifty also tumbled 2.6 percent or 305 points to 11342.5 points dragged down by banks and financials. All sectoral indices closed in the red. The fear index, India VIX, rose 25 percent. Nifty Bank slipped 3.6 percent. On the index, only two stocks rose, while 48 declined.