MG Morning Breeze: Updates to Skim before Market

Mettis Global’s October 26 Morning Breeze brings together market, policy and company updates from the previous day. The KSE-100 fell 2.43% over the week ended October 23, closing at 162,374.88, while the government raised high-speed diesel by Rs1.91 per litre and left petrol unchanged for October 24 to 26.

Several listed companies reported higher profits: Pioneer Cement’s quarterly profit increased 73.37% to Rs2.21bn, and Kot Addu Power’s rose to Rs499.79m from Rs4.88m. Murree Brewery reported Rs1.18bn in quarterly profit and declared a Rs6.5 dividend; Barkat Frisian Agro and SPEL also posted profit growth, while Service Long March Tyres reported Rs3.69bn in profit.

Results were weaker at BankIslami and Habib Metropolitan Bank, whose nine-month and nine-month calendar-year profits fell 39.23% and 19%, respectively. Other updates included Interloop’s approval of Rs6.5bn in spending for Apparel and Hosiery, a merger petition involving First Treet Manufacturing Modaraba, and the SBP’s revised bank investment limits. The digest also reported that the rupee closed at 276.82 per dollar and gold fell Rs7,000 per tola.