StockMarketToday

Going by PMIs, both the manufacturing and service sectors have shown slight movement in Asian countries. Covid 19 pandemic led to severe stress on the procurement and production sectors disrupting the supply chain.

Japan Stock index stands at +1.16 on Monday

• Japan Jibun Manufacturing PMI for August came at 52.7 (vs. expectations prelim 52.4, prior 53.0)
• Material shortages proved detrimental to the production and orders as per the manufacturers.

China Caixin Markit PMI for August is at 49.2 (vs. expectations prelim 50.2, prior 50.3)

• Covid -19 affected the new orders and export orders adversely, in turn showing a negative result in supply and demand.
• There has been pressure on the job market due to movement restrictions seen during the pandemic. For the first time in five months, the sub-index for the job market fell into the contrary territory.
• According to the statistics bureau, China’s official PMI for August came at 50.1

Hong Kong index stands at +0.62%

• Australia index is at -0.34%. But the Australian Q2 GDP was at +0.7% compared to 0.5% prior,1.8% forecast.
• Australia Markit Manufacturing PMI for August came at 52.0(vs. prelim 51.7, prior 56.9)
• With the lockdown in Sydney set to stretch into the last quarter of the year, the government hopes are pinned on increasing vaccination rates to ease travel restrictions and set the market right.

• Dow Jones came to 35,360.73 by shedding 39.11 points. Dow Jones index is at +0.25%
• Nasdaq showed a very slight dip and reached 15,259.24. Nasdaq is at +0.20%
• S&P 500 dipped by 0.13% to 4,522.68. S&P500 is at +0.25%

• Just ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, oil prices surged higher. Brent crude futures rose to $72.11/barrel, up by 0.67%. U.S crude futures rose to $69/barrel, up by 0.73%

By mid-March 2020, Pakistan emerged as the best-performing stock market in the entire Asian investment marketplace, which includes giants like Russia, China, and India. According to trade experts, this is just a start for the forward ascent of Pakistan’s stock market. It is becoming the best performer in Asia by registering a KSE-100 index growth by 36% in the past few months. 

So far, this has been the best rebound growth for Pakistan’s stock market in 2020. Major Asian equity indices suggest that the mid-2020 period helped the country outperform its equities. Pakistan’s central banks support the nation’s stock market upsurge and indicate how the market is aggressively cutting interest rates to mend ways for its turbulent economy; this move stemmed from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While the fixed income has lowered its double-digit returns, Pakistan sees a major bolstering for its bullish equities.

Fayal Asset Management Ltd.’s Chief Investment Officer, Ayub Khuhro sees this abrupt fall in the interest rates as an opportunity for locals to re-allocate their bonds and make them equities. The assets owned by Khuhro himself have tripled in the past year and currently stand at a value of $210 million. Khuhro foresees these rates to stay low in the coming years, continuing the high season for Pakistani investors

Tade experts observed that a slowdown in COVID-19 infections delivered a major boost to Pakistan’s economy and gave it a new high after nearly seven decades. It also prompted FIM Partners from Dubai to make a major exposure in Pakistan in July, which was followed by the Philippines.

FIM Partners’ Mohammed Ali Hussain sees Pakistan emerging as the largest stock exposure in Asia for 2020. For the next six months, Pakistan’s rebound from COVID-19’s economic paralysis will place its macroeconomic growth on track. FIM Partners is currently managing funds worth $1.6 billion and sees potential in Pakistan’s stock market. According to Hussain, the coming months will create enough room for Pakistani investments to re-rate their macro stock portfolios and KSE-100 Index rankings.

Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints are soaring in profits as top index gainers, Pharma Indices, and Nifty IT continue to trade in the red zone. As observed in today’s brokering session, trading had been going on in the lower territory for equity benchmark Sensex. The BSE Graph indicates a turbulent trading session, especially at 14:30 hours, when Sensex was at 38,063.05 with Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, and Asian Paints as the top-ranking contributors.

The Senior Analyst (Commodities) of HDFC Securities, Tapan Patel, said that the prices of crude oil were within a consistent range, even though the price of crude oil NYMEX WTI traded at less than $42 last Friday. The August futures of MCX crude oil traded at 3135 INR at almost half a percentage below the anticipated level. The slow process of financial recovery paired with an expectation of higher supply from the OPEC plus countries contributes to the maintenance of an upper limit in the prices of crude oil.

However, a great pressure is acting on the crude oil prices as of now. The global pandemic induced by the spread of COVID infection and the tension prevalent between China and the US are the factors that are driving down the prices of crude oil in spite of the promising equity indices. Financial experts and shareholders anticipate the price of crude oil to trade either sideways or downward for a day, with a favorable steadiness at $40 and a resistance at $43.

The net profit of Mahanagar Gas Q1 reduced by 72.8% to from 166.60 crore INR to 45.25 crore INR. The profit of Adani Transmission Q1 has increased by 66.5% from 213.4 crore INR to 355.4 crore INR.

In a huge relief for the Indian crypto community, the Supreme Court of India has finally lifted the ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India on trading in cryptocurrency. The Apex Court has now permitted trading in cryptocurrency. Earlier, the RBI in 2018 had decided to tighten the rules that aimed to discourage the usage of virtual currencies such as Bitcoins.

With today’s decision of Apex Court, the sector has heaved a sigh of relief because, till now, the Central Bank’s rules regarding the cryptocurrency had restricted the lenders from enabling banking transactions for cryptocurrency exchanges and traders.

Earlier, a plea was filed by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) protesting the ban imposed by the RBI. The RBI’s move to ban cryptocurrency had led to the banning of legal business activity through virtual currencies.

The decision to lift the ban on cryptocurrency was taken by a three-judge bench, including Aniruddha Bose, Rohinton Nariman, and V Ramasubramanian. Meanwhile, a thorough judgment on the move by Apex Court is expected by the evening.

Meanwhile, the IMAI had contended that cryptocurrency should be considered as a commodity instead of a currency. IMAI had said that RBI lacked the powers to thrust such a ban when there is no such law regarding banning the cryptocurrency. 

Meanwhile, RBI, on its part, said that it has been alerting users since 2013 about cryptocurrencies and it treats crypto as a digital mode of payment that may put the payment system of the country in jeopardy. The RBI was of the opinion that this payment system should have been nipped in the bud.

Additionally, RBI also emphasized that it has the necessary powers to make decisions regarding the banning of cryptocurrencies.

RBI had earlier given entities three months’ tenure to break every banking relation with people or businesses dealing in cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin has emerged as the most famous and largest among cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has already appreciated by nearly half till now in 2020. Last month in 2020, Bitcoin had touched the $10,000 mark against the USD for the first time since October 2019.