The year that is to close on Dec 31 was one of sharp volatility for the Pakistan stock market.
Over the calendar year 2020, the benchmark index climbed to 43,417 points on Dec 24, from 40,735 points on Jan 1, recording nominal gains of 2,682 points or 6.58 per cent. The year started out on a positive tone, but Covid-19 came in February. Business, industries and markets were devastated and the index started to tumble, settling deep down the dungeon at 27,229 points on March 25.
As the country started to come to grips with the situation and the pandemic caused much less damage to the economy than was feared, the stock market started to recover. The index catapulted by a staggering 16,188 points in the nine-month period from March 25 to Dec 24, providing a mouth-watering return of 59pc. Without the massive pullback from the March lows, the year would have joined the two gloomy years of negative stock returns: minus 15pc in 2017 and minus 8pc in 2018. In 2019, the equity return was 1
Attracting investors to stock, debt markets a challenge
Low-interest rates, rupee depreciation likely to discourage foreign investors
PHOTO: REUTERS
KARACHI:
Pakistan’s economy is gradually moving towards stabilisation. The country’s foreign currency reserves hit a three-year high above $13 billion and the rupee consolidated at around Rs160 against the dollar.
However, attracting foreign investment into the stock and debt markets remains a huge challenge. Foreign investors have continued to divest from Asia’s best performing stock market for the past four years.
Similarly, they have aggressively pulled out investment from government debt securities since March 2020 after the central bank made a big cut in the benchmark interest rate to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Business
December 17, 2020
KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped 17 percent to $717.1 million in the first five months of the current fiscal year, data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Wednesday.
The country attracted $864.4 million of FDI in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
FDI flows turned negative in November due to pull out of investments from China and Norway from the country.
Pakistan registered FDI outflow of $16 million in November. However, FDI stood at $192.4 million in November 2019, the SBP data showed. China pulled out $218.6 million followed by Norway with $55.8 million outflows from the country in the month under review.
Pakistan sees outflow of $16m in November
FDI turns negative after two years as power, telecom firms transfer funds abroad
PHOTO: AFP
After receiving back-to-back good news on the economic front during the Covid-19 pandemic, Pakistan has been hit by grim news as net foreign investment turned negative at $16 million in November 2020.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become negative after a gap of two years after power and telecom firms operating in Pakistan apparently transferred funds to their parent companies in China and Norway respectively.
Short-term investors were, however, seen again making small investments in the government debt securities like treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) in November.
Rupee expected to stay stable against US dollar: report
By
A dealer counting Pakistani currency. File photo
The rupee gained 14 paisas to close the week at 160.14 against the dollar during the outgoing week
The flow of remittances surged 26.9% to $11.7 billion in the first five months
The rupee is expected to hover at a support level of 160 in the interbank market next week
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee is expected to stay stable against the US dollar in the coming week as appetite for the hard currency remains mostly subdued among importers, according to a
The News report.
The currency dealers told the publication that inflows from the remittances and the Roshan Digital Account could also support the local unit against the greenback.