Market prices, indices, notices
Used for index levels, closing data, company announcements, trading notices, and market-level verification.
Source hierarchy
Not all sources carry the same weight.
Every research note starts by asking a simple question: where did the figure come from? A number from an official filing is treated differently from a number repeated in market commentary. Higher-quality evidence always takes priority.
Tier 1 — Primary sources
PSX, company filings, NCCPL, SBP, PBS, Finance Division, SECP, official notices, and regulatory releases. These are the preferred sources for published figures.
Tier 2 — Institutional context
Industry associations, broker research, IMF, World Bank, and recognised institutional material. These are used for context when primary data is unavailable or incomplete.
Tier 3 — Financial media
Reputable financial media may be used for background or event context, but not as the final authority for core figures when official data is available.
Tier 4 — Not evidence
Social media, forums, anonymous claims, screenshots without a source trail, and unsourced commentary are not treated as evidence for published analysis.
Preferred source base
The sources we normally rely on.
Institutional and participant flows
Used for FIPI/LIPI, client-type flows, sector flow checks, and participant behaviour analysis.
Company financials and disclosures
Used for earnings, balance sheets, cash flows, receivables, circular-debt exposure, dividends, and material information.
Rates, currency, monetary data
Used for policy rates, monetary indicators, yields, external account data, and banking-system context.
Inflation and macro prints
Used for CPI, sector price indices, economic statistics, and macro data that affects purchasing power and margins.
Policy and regulatory impact
Used for Finance Division, SECP, OGRA, NEPRA, and other official policy or regulatory material when relevant.
Verification process
How a figure becomes publishable.
A figure is not automatically publishable because it appears in a file. It must be checked for source, period, label, direction, and context. This matters especially in PSX data, where one-off transactions, stale figures, or mislabeled categories can change the interpretation.
01Identify source
02Check date
03Check label
04Cross-check context
05Publish or omit
Flow data caveat
NCCPL flow data needs extra care.
Institutional flow data is useful, but it can be distorted by one-off transactions.
Possible block trades
If a flow category appears unusually concentrated in one sector or one transaction pattern, it may reflect a block trade or stake transfer rather than organic market positioning.
Headline exclusion
If a flow looks like a one-off transaction, it should not be used as the headline explanation for market behaviour.
Chart exclusion
A category excluded from the written explanation should also be excluded from infographics and charts. Visuals must follow approved analysis, not raw files alone.
Clear wording
When flow interpretation is uncertain, the uncertainty should be visible. The reader should know whether the data reflects positioning or a possible technical transaction.
When sources conflict
Higher-quality evidence wins.
Official data overrides commentary
If PSX, SBP, PBS, NCCPL, SECP, or a company filing differs from market commentary, the official source is preferred.
No averaging
Conflicting sources are not averaged to create a convenient middle number. The source difference must be resolved or the figure should not be used.
Stale data is labelled
If a dashboard figure or article figure is source-dated rather than live, the page should say so clearly.
Missing data is not filled from memory
If a figure is missing, unavailable, or ambiguous, it is not guessed. It is either omitted or published only after verification.
What readers should expect
Transparent source trails, not black-box conclusions.
Source labels
Articles and graphics should show the source base clearly, especially when using market data, flow data, company filings, or macro releases.
Visible assumptions
When an interpretation depends on an assumption, the assumption should be stated in plain English.
Falsifiers
A good explanation should identify what would weaken it: a policy reversal, flow change, earnings miss, commodity shock, or data revision.
Corrections
If a material issue is found, it should be corrected. Readers can report data issues through the website feedback link.