Pakistan Equities Monthly Commentary A solid relief rally; 5 May 2020 breather can be forgiven . Interestingly, the local stock market and crude oil (WTI) both happened to Syed Hussain Haider, CFA, CIPM close the month at key resistance levels. Both have already gone through
[email protected] a commendable relief rally; WTI has doubled and the KSE-100 has posted +9221 111-574-111 Ext: 3118 25% returns. Hence, any breather during May should not be concerning. Ali H. Zaidi
[email protected] . Looking at the decent stock market performance in the ongoing holy +9221 111-574-111 Ext: 3103 month, it might just be the best one in a decade. However, empirical evidence suggests May has historically been relatively tamer. Perhaps this Ahmed Lakhani time, we could be in for something different?
[email protected] +9221 111-574-111 Ext: 3035 . Presently, the market is basking in the glory of sympathetic measures (and potential budgetary relief around the corner) in lieu of Covid-19 – both local and foreign. Also, even with the back-to-back policy-rate cuts already announced by the central bank, a further cumulative 200bps cut (at least 100 bps in coming MPC meeting) should not be too surprising. With the market trading at forward P/E of 6.2x and a forward P/B of 1.03x (10-yr average of 8.2x and 1.6x) as per Bloomberg, there is no denying that valuations are more than attractive from a longer term perspective, even though the near-term earnings outlook remains hazy.