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US Technical Analyst Forecasts Multi-Year Bull Market in Pakistan

RiazHaq

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Elliot Wave theorist Mark Galasiewski is forecasting continuation of multi-year bull market in Pakistan. This forecasts marks an unusual agreement of a technical analyst with fundamental research done by Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs who recently reiterated Pakistan's place on its growth map.

The Elliott Wave Theory, formulated in 1939 by Ralph Nelson Elliot, is the basis of technical analysis that some traders use to analyze financial market cycles and forecast market trends by identifying extremes in investor psychology, highs and lows in prices, and other collective factors.

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Here are some excepts of a recent interview of Elliot Theorist Mark Galasiewski on what he calls the "Indian Ocean Renaissance":

".... there are various ways to make long-term investment decisions. For example, Warren Buffett has shown that picking individual stocks can provide good returns over time. But it's a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process, to research companies thoroughly enough to have the kind of conviction that he does. And his “buy and hold” strategy means that he suffers significant drawdowns in his portfolio at times -- like during the 2007-2009 crash.

Elliott wave analysis gives you the opportunity to make long-term bets with a similar conviction -- but with a fraction of the elbow grease. Instead of pouring over hundreds of quarterly reports and legal documents, you look for Elliott wave patterns in the charts of market indexes. Those patterns reflect investors' collective bias, bullish or bearish. (I won't go into details of why this is so; our Club EWI has tons of free reports explaining the mechanics of the Elliott Wave Principle.)

So, knowing what part of the Elliott wave pattern your market is in, you know how the pattern should progress from there, ideally. And that gives you a probabilistic forecast for the trend. It doesn't work 100% of the time (what does), but our subscribers remember more than one successful forecast we've made using Elliott waves.

For example, on March 23, 2009 -- at the time when almost no one felt bullish -- we issued a special report to our subscribers forecasting a multi-year bull market in Indian stocks. Two weeks later, we identified three more markets in the region -- Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia -- that we believed were also likely to enjoy an "Indian Ocean Renaissance."

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia have all since generated some of the best returns among global stock markets. Without knowledge of the Elliott Wave Principle, it would have been difficult to forecast the boom -- especially given the dismal news events at the time. Do you remember the headlines in early 2009?

The world was engulfed by the global financial crisis, and most people believed the worst was still ahead. The currencies of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia had collapsed. Pakistan and India were on the brink of conflict over the Mumbai terrorist attacks of late 2008. A civil war was still raging in Sri Lanka. Who would turn bullish on stock under those "fundamental" conditions? We did, and only because Elliott wave patterns in the price charts of those four markets told us to "buy."

And by the way, the terrible conditions in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka mostly reversed along with the market rally over the next year."

"The Wave Principle is how the market works. Financial markets are non-rational and counter-intuitive. Investing according to conventional assumptions eventually leads to financial ruin, since the market too often does the opposite of what most people expect.

Even thinking contrarily is insufficient, because sometimes it’s necessary to run with the herd. But Elliott wave analysis helps you to determine which psychological stance is most appropriate at any given time. Often, the news at the time would be suggesting you do the opposite".


These latest analyses remind me of what Reuters' Mark Bendeich wrote on June 10, 2008:

"A little more than six years ago, immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities, few sane investment advisers would have recommended Pakistani stocks. They should have. Their clients could have made a fortune. Since 2001, the nuclear-armed South Asian country, blamed for spawning generations of Islamic militants and threatening global security, has been making millionaires like newly minted coins. As Western governments have fretted about Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of militants, the Karachi Stock Exchange's main share index has risen more than 10-fold."

Haq's Musings: US Technical Analyst Bullish on Pakistan
 
Great news... Karachi has been named top 10 best performing stock markets in the world
 
Here is a News report on foreign buying pushing shares to four year highs in Karachi:

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100-share index rose 2 percent on Thursday to close at a four-year high as strong foreign buying encouraged local investors to take new positions in key stocks, dealers said.



“Healthy foreign buying buoyed market sentiment,” said Ovais Ahsan, head of equity sales at Optimus Capital Management. Foreign investors bought shares worth $13 million in Thursday’s and Wednesday’s sessions.



The benchmark 100-share index increased by 277.40 points, or 1.96 percent, to close at a 48-month high of 14,419.92 points – the level last seen on May 15, 2008. The index closed just 34.58 points lower than the intra-day high of 14,454.50 points. The KSE 30-share index surged by 211.79 points, or 1.71 percent, to 12,578.11 points.



Out of total 389 companies’ shares traded, 247 advanced, 90 declined, while 52 closed unchanged.



Stocks which played a leading role in driving the 100-share index up included Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. (OGDCL), MCB Bank, Allied Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Unilever Pakistan. Other notable stocks included Lotte PakPTA, Fatima Fertilizer Company, National Bank of Pakistan, Lucky Cement, Engro Foods, Faysal Bank and Nestle Pakistan.



Ahsan said that foreigners were taking fresh positions as Pakistani markets remain cheaper in the region. Moreover, foreign investors were expecting a positive outcome from ongoing talks between Pakistan and the United States over new terms of engagement on war on terror.



He said that fertiliser stocks remained hot for investors on reports that the government might buy 0.3 million ton of urea from local manufacturers instead of importing the same quantity to maintain its strategic reserves.



Samar Iqbal, an equity dealer at Topline Securities, said that heavyweight OGDCL remained in the limelight and gained Rs3 on reports that the government was expected to increase wellhead price of Qadirpur field.



Ahmed Rauf, a trader on foreign desk of JS Global Capital, said that many of the investors were bringing in their money into Pakistan since the government allowed them to invest in shares without disclosing their source of investment till June 2014.



He added that foreigners were acquiring stocks in fertiliser, banking, cement and oil sectors. “Yesterday, they were seen buying stocks including Fatima Fertilizer Company, PTCL, Engro Corporation, Lucky Cement, DG Khan Cement and Karachi Electric Supply Company.”



Turnover improved to 293.97 million shares from 246.39 million shares traded in the previous session. Turnover in futures market enhanced to 16.70 million shares from 11.87 million shares traded a day earlier.



Market capitalisation rose by Rs68 billion to Rs3,683 billion.



PTCL was the turnover leader with 26.41 million shares as it closed at Rs14.42 with one-day maximum allowed increase of Re1. It was followed by Lotte PakPTA with 22.76 million shares turnover as it closed at Rs9.32 with an increase of 78 paisas. DG Khan Cement was on third position with 22.76 million shares turnover as it closed at Rs43.41 with a surge of Rs1.57.

Foreign buying helps KSE 100 index rise 2pc, closes at 48-month high - thenews.com.pk
 
Here's an ET story on Credit Suisse bullish view of Pakistani stocks:

In a detailed report issued to clients on Monday, analysts at Credit Suisse said that they believed that the new rules on capital gains tax and the exemption from documenting source of income for the next two years will improve liquidity and trading volumes in the market and allow stock prices to rise to their historical levels of valuations from their currently highly depressed levels.

“Liquidity in 2012 has been concentrated in stocks offering positive earnings surprises (e.g., United Bank, Lucky Cement, DG Khan Cement and Bank Alfalah), enabling them to be strong outperformers,” said Farrukh Khan, a research analyst based in Credit Suisse’ Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, in his report. “With further improvements in liquidity, we expect a broad-based price discovery to take hold in attractively valued oil and fertiliser stocks as well.”

Besides liquidity, however, Credit Suisse believes there are several other reasons why Pakistan is a highly attractive market.

It notes, for instance, that Pakistan’s sovereign risk is declining. Yields on Pakistan’s Eurobond have fallen 3% over the past 90 days, which Credit Suisse believes is justified. “A few months back, it seemed imminent that the current government’s altercation with the army would lead to early elections. The crisis has been averted, and for the first time in Pakistan’s history, a democratically elected government looks likely to complete its term in office” Khan stated.

In addition, Khan points out that Pakistani stocks are undervalued by their own historical valuation levels. The seven-year average for the 12-month forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio (a key valuation metric) is 9.0, but the MSCI Pakistan index is currently trading at an average forward PE ratio of 6.3, which Khan argues is too low.

“Although Pakistan’s macros and politics remain challenging, there is an increasing realisation that this comes with the territory, and should not deter strong bottom-up investing. A large part of the weak politics and macros is built into historical valuations as well,” said Khan.

Credit Suisse also points out that corporate profitability in Pakistan is back to the 2007 pre-crisis levels. The average return on equity for the stocks in the MSCI Pakistan index is expected to hit 30% this year. Earnings yield averages 16% and dividend yields a healthy 7.3%.

The final advantage for international investors, Credit Suisse says, is that Pakistan is highly uncorrelated with the broader global equity markets, especially Europe. This lack of correlation holds both on the upside as well as the downside, meaning investors who are looking to diversify out of their exposure to the weakening European economy should be investing in Pakistan.

Credit Suisse bullish on Pakistani equities – The Express Tribune
 
Elliot Wave only works in stable economies/markets. It's Pakistan and you need stability in the government, elimination of terrorism, improved Law and order situation, improved ranking in Ease of doing business index and fulfilling energy requirements are the few basic problems to solve before Elliot Wave will show any positive results in the country. KSE has the potential to reach even 25,000 points but only if some of the above issues are resolved.

Most of the references in your article are 2-3 years old and our relationship with the International community has further deteriorated so all I can say is, I hope I am wrong and Allah karay aisa hi ho aur aap ki baat sach niklay.
 
I'm a fundamentalist when it comes to security investments and was never a believer of the Elliott Wave Theory or any technical analysis but I hope this time they are right since I already invested my last spare dollar into the banking sector of the US recently.
 
Here's an excerpt of an FT report on Sweden's Pakistan Fund:

With Pakistan so much in the news for the above (negative) reasons it is no surprise that few fund managers have set up single country Pakistan funds.

However, newly established Swedish fund manager, Tundra Fonder, was determined to look beyond the headlines.

Tundra was founded in September last year by partners Johan Elmquist and Mattias Martinsson. By October the group had launched its first funds, one investing in Russia and the other in Pakistan. In February Tundra unveiled a third offering: the Global Emerging Markets Agri & Food Fund.

Launching Tundra Pakistanfond was a particular ambition for Mr Martinsson, the fund’s lead manager, who had formed a personal conviction in the country’s growth story. Even he has been taken by surprise, however, by how well things have gone. By last month, Mr Martinsson says, he and Mr Elmquist had noticed an extraordinary thing – the Tundra Pakistan fund was on top of the most clicked list, “Mest clickade fonder ” on the Swedish version of Morningstar, the fund news and data provider.

Investors have not only been clicking. They have been investing too. “We currently have approximately $65m in assets under management of which a little bit more than $50m right now is in the Pakistan fund,” says Mr Martinsson.

Early investors have already been rewarded. By May 31, year-to-date returns were 27.9 per cent, according to Morningstar.

Mr Martinsson says the strong inflows into Tundra’s Pakistan fund could be due to the structure being something that investors can understand and trust – it is Ucits IV compliant and open for daily trading. A buoyant period for Pakistan’s stock market (the KSE 100 has risen more than 20 per cent since January 1) might also have been helpful. But these factors cannot explain the whole story. The World Investment Oppportunities Funds – Pakistan, a Luxembourg registered Sicav still has only $1.75m in assets under management and it launched in 2008.

One Pakistan adventure paying off - FT.com
 

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