BISINISS WORLD NEWS

KARACHI: The deadly bomb blast in Peshawar Wednesday forced the investors not to take fresh positions in the local equity market where the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 64 points to close at 9,251.

The market started today’s trade with positive numbers but the bomb blast in Peshawar eroded the early hour gains and the Index closed at the current level.

The trade volume was recorded at 170 million shares.

Arif Habib Securities topped the list of volume leaders, gaining paisas 48 to close at Rs54.85.

The selling eroded 75 points from the KSE-30 Index which pegged at 9,754.

Sugar crisis gets worst across country

LAHORE: Sugar crisis is getting worst across the country as shopkeepers claim they cannot sell the commodity on low prices after purchasing it on high cost, whereas the concerned government officers appear to raid and fine only small shopkeepers.

Government has failed in having the commodity availed for Rs36/kg as per the judicial rulings.

Sugar shortage continues to rise in retail market since the wholesalers and small shopkeepers are not purchasing the commodity on high price to avoid raids and fines.

Masses are unable to avail the essential food item despite 6,76,000 tonnes sugar is stocked in the godowns of sugar mills and Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).

In some cities the essential food item is hardly available even for Rs100/kg.

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has initiated the process of bringing other currencies in the country’s pool of foreign exchange reserves with a view to protect its total reserves position.

The decision has been made in view of the diminishing value of dollar which mainly forms Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.

It is learnt that information regarding other currencies to be added in the country’s foreign exchange reserves and their proportions will not be disclosed.

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) displayed mixed trends, as the benchmark 100-index was pushed off balance from 9,400-point level, Geo News reported Tuesday.

The trade opened into the positive territory; but, the selling pressure in energy and banking stocks limited the market’s upward move and caused the 100-index to close at 9,330 down 44 points.

The trader volume was 160 million shares. Pak PTA was the volume leader today which scaled down to Rs6.33 down 36 paisa.

Meantime, the KSE30-index closed at 9832 down 91 points.

According to experts, the index may continue its downward motion to slip below 9000-point level in the coming days.

ISLAMABAD: A seed has been produced to increase per acre production of wheat which will be introduced to farmers in next three years.

Talking to Geo News after a seminar, advisor for agriculture Dr. A Mujeeb Qazi said Agriculture Research Center has prepared a seed to increase per acre growth of wheat. It would likely increase to 70 maund from 25 to 30 maund. He said research is underway on more then 1,000 types of wheat seeds. National Centre of Excellence for Wheat will be established for this purpose in Islamabad with cost of Rs. 5 billion. Its PC-1 will be submitted to planning commission by the end of November, he added.

SINGAPORE: Oil was mixed in Asian trade Tuesday after it was pulled down overnight by a strengthening US dollar and hopes of easing tensions in crude-rich Nigeria, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, rose six cents to 78.74 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December delivery fell four cents to 77.22 dollars a barrel. Crude prices have eased in recent sessions after hitting 82 dollars last week, its highest level since October 14, 2008, on the back of the slumping US currency.

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has initiated the process of bringing other currencies in the country’s pool of foreign exchange reserves with a view to protect its total reserves position.

The decision has been made in view of the diminishing value of dollar which mainly forms Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.

It is learnt that information regarding other currencies to be added in the country’s foreign exchange reserves and their proportions will not be disclosed.

SINGAPORE: Oil was lower in Asian trade Monday as investors took profit after prices shot up to their highest level in a year last week, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery dropped 54 cents to 79.96 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery eased 46 cents to 78.46 dollars a barrel.

New York crude hit 82 dollars Wednesday, its highest level since October 14, 2008 as the dollar slumped, boosting the appetite of investors holding stronger foreign currencies.

A weak US currency usually boosts crude prices because holders of stronger foreign units then find it cheaper to invest in dollar-denominated oil futures.

The price declines are expected to be limited as the dollar is likely to stay weak, analysts said.

"Over the medium term, the US dollar is still set to decrease in value further," analysts from Singapore's DBS bank said in a report.

A slew of key US economic data due out this week, including third quarter growth figures for the world's biggest economy, is also expected to have an impact on crude prices, analysts said.

The US economy is expected to grow an average 3.0 percent in the third quarter after four quarters of contraction but analysts from London-based Capital Economics are tipping growth of slightly above 4.0 percent.

"We suspect the markets may be pleasantly surprised by the first release of the third-quarter GDP figures, not just because they will confirm that the recession has ended," Capital Economics' analysts said in a report.

"Looking ahead, a sharp slowdown in the rate of inventory liquidation alongside an acceleration in the growth rate of business investment should ensure that GDP growth remains strong into the first half of next year," they said.

The US is the world's biggest energy user and its slide into a recession has sent crude prices falling from historic highs of over 147 dollars in 2008 to about 32 dollars in December.

Recent signs of a recovery underway

KARACHI: The benchmark 100-index of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) saw upbeat trend during the preliminary trading session after last week’s record bearish trend and 100-index gained over 200 points to cross 9350 points level, Geo news reported.

According to market analysts, the market began trading in positive zone due to improved law and order situation across country, which made schools and other educational institutes to reopen again after week’s closure.

Now, the investors have regained their trust in market investment, they said, adding, foreign investors purchased stocks worth of more than 3.4 million dollars on Fiday, making market to begin trading in positive zone on Monday.

Experts feared the stock market might plunge after 100-index will have crossed 9400 points level.

WASHINGTON: Banks should return the favour they received in their recent taxpayer-financed bailout by lending more money to small businesses, President Barack Obama said Friday.

In his weekly radio and internet address, Obama said too many small business owners remain unable to get credit despite administration steps to jump-start lending, which was virtually frozen when the financial crisis took hold last year.

"These are the very taxpayers who stood by America's banks in a crisis, and now it's time for our banks to stand by creditworthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs," Obama said.

"It's time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system and more broadly shared prosperity," said Obama.

The president said the administration will "take every appropriate step to encourage them to meet those responsibilities". He did not specify what those steps might be.

The president's words were the latest instance of the populist tone he has employed to pressure the financial industry.

Last week Obama criticised the banking and fin-ance industries for working through Congress to try to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Agency he has proposed.

He accused them of "using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo that has maximised their profits at the expense of American consumers, despite the fact that recently those same American consumers bailed them out as a consequence of the bad decisions that they made."

The bailout package cost $700 billion (Dh2.56 trillion). In his address Friday, Obama said small businesses have created nearly two-thirds of the nation's new jobs over the past decade and a half. "They must be at the forefront of our recovery," he said.

This year's $787 economic stimulus package made $5 billion in tax breaks available to small business and cut the costs of Small Business Administration loans, Obama said.

PESHAWAR Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices have been increased by Rs10kg in Peshawar before the onset of winter.

LPG Association President, Bakht Muneer told Geo News prices have been increased due to the difference in supply and demand.

“LPG was being sold for Rs70kg before one month, however its demand has risen as the mercury drops increasing the price upto Rs80kg.”

LPG prices are expected to raise more in next few days, he added.

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday dispensed 110 billion rupees to banks, aiming at minimizing the deficiency of liquidity in open market banking system, Geo news reported.

The rupees were provided for a week on 12.27 interest percent, which will be utilized for Open Market Operations (OMOs).

According to sources, the bargain took place as private banks offered central bank Treasury Bills (TBs) worth of 123 billion rupees, however, SBP only agreed to purchase TBs of 110 billion rupees at 12.27 interest rate.

Mini market dealers said the open market faced liquidity shortage as the banks paid off 123.50 billion rupees to center bank in terms of maturities, which called for OMOs from SBP, sources added.

MIRPURKHAS: A farmer has successfully grown mango trees in Mirpurkhas that can bear fruit throughout the year. The mangoes can be seen hanging by these trees even in the winter season.

Mir Ali, a farmer of Mirpuskhas, has prepared saplings of mango trees in Dehkak area which can bear fruit in all the seasons of Pakistan.

These saplings are now being sold on a small scale.

Regular saplings of mango trees are sold for Rs50 to Rs60 while the price of these have been fixed at Rs100.

KARACHI: The bears eased their grip on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) following announcement of strong financial results by Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) on Friday.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed just 3 points down to 9,151 on last trading day of the week.

The share market opened in the green zone and remained positive in the first trading session. The investors offloaded some of their holdings in the second session after the bomb blast in Peshawar. However, MCBs strong financial results brought support to the market and the major Index closed only 3 points down.

The trade volume was registered at 190 million shares.

Telecard was today’s star performer in terms of volume which lost paisas 5 to close at Rs2.50.

ISLAMABAD: Competition Commission of Pakistan has issued show cause notice to Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and some of sugar mills for violating section 4 of competition law.

Chairman CCP Khalid Mirza told media that explanation has been called from sugar mills about monopoly. He said mills will provide opportunity to explain their position. A bench will be formed for hearing reply of the mills and give its comments. A section is trying to weaken competition law and commission, he added.

KARACHI: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has expressed reservations over non availability of gas to industrial units in Punjab and NWFP.

Vice Chairman and spokesman of APTMA Shahzad Ahmed told Geo News that gas load- shedding in industrial units especially textile sector in the month of October is a violation of agreements and textile policy. He said government had given us assurance that there will be not gas load shedding before December. Textile sector could not achieve export targets of current fiscal year in this situation, he added.

ISLAMABAD: Gas supply has been suspended to 165 industrial units in October said Rashid Loan, MD of Sui Northern Gas Company.

Speaking at a media briefing after attending a meeting of Senate Standing Committee for Petroleum here Thursday, he said the suspension of gas supply to industrial units came sooner this year compared to last year’s gas load shedding which began in December.

MD SNGC said suspension of gas supply to fertilizer companies would have to be undertaken this year if Kohat fields failed to supply gas.

During the meeting, managing director OGDC, Zahid Hussein said that cases regarding 18 oil and gas exploration projects are under court trial which has been affecting the produce of 300 million MMBTU gas and 7,000 barrel oil per day.

He further said that Qadirpur and Sui fields are producing 1.65 billion MMBTU a day compared to 1.86 billion MMBTU per day last year.

KARACHI: The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index shed more then 200 points during the trading as the index has plunged below 9,100 points level.

The trading in KSE started with positive activity but soon it was turned into negative after firing incident happened in Islamabad. The 100-Index dropped more then 200 points and fell below 9,100 points.

Market experts predicted that bearish trend will continue if law and order situation will not be improved. KSE-100 Index stands at 9014 points level after losing 234 points.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
SINGAPORE: Oil eased in Asian trade Thursday after surging to 82 dollars, its highest level in a year as investor sentiment received a boost from a decline in US energy reserves, analysts said.

New York's main contract light sweet crude for December delivery sank 11 cents to 81.26 dollars a barrel. The contract hit 82 dollars in Wednesday trade, its highest level since October 2008. Brent North Sea crude December delivery eased two cents to 79.67 dollars a barrel.

Both contracts had closed higher Wednesday, lifted by a drop in US energy stocks which were seen as a sign of improved demand in the world's biggest energy user.

LONDON: World oil prices spiked Wednesday to a one-year peak above 81 dollars, as investors reacted to plunging US gasoline or petrol reserves, and the tumbling greenback, traders said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, soared as high as 81.73 dollars per barrel -- last seen in October 2008.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery rallied to a similar peak at 79.98.

The US government's Department of Energy (DoE) announced Wednesday that American gasoline or petrol reserves sank 2.3 million barrels in the week to October 16.

That was far heavier than expectations of an 800,000-barrel drop, according to traders polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Torbjorn Kjus, analyst at DnB NOR Markets, described the sharp gasoline drop as "bullish" -- indicating that it was likely to push oil prices higher.

The DoE's weekly report is a key focus for the market because the United States is the world's biggest energy consuming nation, followed by number two China.

The latest price peaks also came after the European single currency breached the key 1.50-dollar level to hit a 14-month peak, as many investors deserted the US unit in favour of higher yielding assets, dealers said.

The falling greenback makes dollar-priced oil cheaper for buyers holding stronger currencies, and therefore tends to stimulate crude demand and prices.

In late London trade, the euro struck 1.5023 dollars, a level last seen in August 2008, up from 1.4937 dollars in New York late on Tuesday.

In earlier commodity trading on Wednesday, oil prices had fallen as investors took profits from a rally the previous day which saw New York crude breach 80 dollars per barrel for the first time in one year.

A weak dollar and an upbeat mood about the global economic recovery are driving the recent surge in crude prices, according to oil industry watchers.

Despite topping 80 dollars, oil prices had finished Tuesday in negative territory after downbeat data from the ailing US property sector.

US housing starts grew in September but the pace was softer than anticipated while permits for construction fell sharply, government data showed.

PESHAWAR: The gold touched the record highs in Peshawar, as its per tola price reached at Rs35,300, Geo News reported Wednesday.

According to Sarrafa Association, the gold price was Rs34,700/tola three days ago in the city now it has soared to Rs35,300 registering an increase of Rs600.

According to Sarrafa Association, the increase in the gold prices have caused decrease in its sale.

KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Syed Salim Raza has observed that effective regulation is the preferred way forward for Central Banks responsible for safeguarding both monetary and financial stability.

Delivering a keynote address on 'Current Crisis and the Future of Financial Regulation' at the 59th Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Bankers-Pakistan here on Wednesday, the SBP Chief said that in the context of recent experiences of the global economy the way forward for the financial sector is to maintain both the simplicity and transparency of product structures and a gradual pace of implementation of financial liberalization to enable the financial sector in meeting the needs of the real economy and to expand further in an efficient manner.

He spoke of some of the issues arising out of the current global crisis and shared his perspective on various aspects of financial sector reforms, which are also pertinent to Pakistan.

The recent global crisis is unique in the sense that it was caused by an unfettered parallel financial system which was driven by the excessive pace of financial innovation and deregulation in advanced economies.

It is to be noted that the emphasis of the various working groups and committees is on fixing the financial regulation framework in the leading developed economies.

While for a like the G-20 now also carry the representation of emerging economies such as China, Indonesia and India, financial regulation in emerging and developing economies is still progressing, given that the evolution of the financial sector and the associated regulatory framework is shaped by the need to extend the outreach of financial services and increasing financial depth, rather than putting aside the basic function of financial intermediation to engage in financial engineering focused on profiteering.

"As we move forward to make the financial system in Pakistan less prone to crisis, we would have to bear these various issues in mind," he added.

Salim Raza pointed out that the world's financial system before the recent crisis was ill-managed, irresponsible, highly concentrated and undercapitalized, ridden with conflicts of interest and benefiting from implicit state guarantees.

He said that as one contemplates the lessons of the crisis, and the reasons for the prolonged period of financial instability, the foremost thing that comes to mind is the role of central banks in safeguarding and maintaining financial stability, in addition to their primary objective of ensuring price stability.

Central Banks, responsible or not for the regulation of any component of the financial sector, have a crucial role in safeguarding financial stability given that monetary and financial stability are closely linked, not in the least through the lender of last resort function, he said.

The rapid succession of bank failures during the crisis reinforced the realization that there is no institution, besides the central bank, that can create liquidity quickly in a crisis, and with an eye on both monetary and financial stability, can take necessary actions to preempt and prevent systemic risk.

The Governor SBP opined that the 'light touch' model of financial regulation in vogue in advanced economies is seen to be one of the key reasons for the magnitude and protracted duration of the crisis.

He said the regulatory framework in Pakistan operates on the basis of two regulators-- SBP with its primary focus on price stability is also the regulator of the banking sector and is mandated to safeguard financial stability- while SECP governs the non-bank finance companies, the insurance sector and the securities market.

While the issue of transferring deposit-taking institutions back to SBP was under consideration until last year, SBP and SECP have signed a MoU to undertake consolidated supervision to enable effective regulation of emerging financial conglomerates, he added.

"Notably, the perimeter of financial regulation has strived to strike a balance between light regulation and over-regulation, while at the same time ensuring that all important sources of systemic risk in the financial services industry are regulated and supervised," Raza emphasized.

SBP Governor said the events since August 2007 have brought forth the realization that the impact of the recent global crisis would not have been so severe had banks not virtually abandoned the traditional age-old model of banking i.e. raise funds by mobilizing deposits and exercise prudence in lending them onward at a reasonable margin.

He said the banks in Pakistan predominantly rely on their deposit base for funding their expansion in assets and emphasized on the need to strengthen prudent asset-liability management by banks, particularly in view of their maturity transformation.

He stressed that financial regulation should be designed for large banks to hold capital and liquidity buffers that account for the systemic risk they pose, and their organization structure should enable an orderly winding down.

He said the pre-crisis prudential regulation regimes generally lacked a macro-prudential focus, which is essentially based on the assessment of the financial system as a whole, instead of simply the assessment of a collection of individual entities.

He said that given the cost of financial crises, there has been a renewed emphasis on attempting to contain or, in the least, mitigate systemic risk by adopting macro-prudential surveillance, which is defined as monitoring of conjectural and structural trends in financial markets so as to give warning of the approach of financial instability.

KARACHI: Bears once again dominate Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), plummeting the benchmark KSE-100 Index by 321 points to 9,247.

The share market opened in the negative zone and remained under selling pressure throughout the session.

Selling by foreign investors in energy stocks was seen as the main cause behind today’s bearish activity.

The trade volume stood at 200 million shares today.

Arif Habib Securities emerged as today’s volume leader which increased by paisas 54 to close at Rs51.91.

KSE-30 Index finished the 336 points low to peg at 10,770.

WASHINGTON: The IMF's most recent World Economic Outlook forecasts global economic contraction of about one percent this year and expansion of around three percent next year.

At the same time, Asia is expected to grow by 2.75 percent this year and by 5.75 percent in 2010.

Some Asian nations -- particularly advanced and export-dependent economies that have experienced a relatively large cyclical weakening of their fiscal positions -- plan to withdraw stimulus next year amid recovery signs, the Washington-based IMF said.

"However, these plans should proceed cautiously until the recovery seems assured," deputy IMF managing director John Lipsky warned.

He asked them to enhance "fiscal credibility" by announcing "concrete medium-term

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 KARACHI: The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index dropped more then 300 points during the trading as the index has plunged below 9300 points level. The trading in KSE started with bearish trend which remained continued. Experts saw market with bearish trend due to foreign selling because of deteriorating law and order situation in the country. The analysts predicted market will continue experience bearish trend in coming few days whereas senior stock members of KSE said government financial institution should buy shares to support the market.

KARACHI: The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 index dropped 200 points during the initial phase of trading on Monday and the benchmark index was at 9365 points level.

Experts saw market with bearish trend in foreign selling due to announcement of closure of educational institutes from provincial governments on account of ongoing wave of terrorism in country and it stayed at negative buying from local investors who put on dying interests in investment.

Domestic investment remained short of interest during trade in morning, sliding KSE-100 index by 200 points to stand at 9365 points level.

KARACHI: Government has acquired a fresh loan worth of Rs33 billion from the banking system to cover budget deficit during one week.

According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) report, the volume of government-acquired loans from the SBP has risen to Rs77 billion by October 10th – which was Rs44 billion by October 3rd.

Government borrowed a fresh loan of Rs37 billion from the SBP mounting the total volume of loans acquired from the central bank to Rs36 billion in minus; whereas Rs3 billion were paid-off to the commercial banks during the same period.

Meanwhile, the government avoided borrowing further from the private banks and Rs18 billion were liquidated, sources said.

BEIJING: World's largest mobile operator by subscribers said Tuesday its net profit rose by 1.8% year-to-year over the first nine months of 2009.

The time may seem ripe for China Mobile to look overseas for expansion, but not every Chinese company is anxious to buy up the world.

It isn't surprising some are hoping for more excitement from China Mobile.

It's the kind of mundane performance that investors have come to expect from China Mobile lately. An industry reorganization last year means it's facing stiffer competition in China; so its share of new subscribers is subsiding, while the average revenue it generates from each user is stagnating.

Such circumstances have moved other telecom operators to look overseas for new opportunities -- Bharti Airtel's bid for MTN being a recent example.

Add to that a $37.5 billion war chest, and it's little surprise that the same intentions are assumed of China Mobile.

But it's unlikely China Mobile will prove so bold.

Past experience is one reason. China Mobile's 2007 acquisition of Pakistan's Paktel hasn't added much to the company's bottom line, and has proved a difficult cultural fit to boot.

Regulatory barriers make forays abroad difficult too. China Mobile is actually trying to buy a stake in Taiwan's FarEastTone, but it seems unlikely Taipei will let that pass.

Few markets offer both low political barriers to entry and growth significantly faster than China Mobile's home base.

The company has enough to do at home anyway -- defending its 73% share of the Chinese mobile market by subscribers, rolling out 3G technology, and battling the coming release of Apple's iPhone -- with its own, unimaginatively titled Ophone.

None of that is terribly exciting. But in China, thrill-seeking investors can find plenty of alternatives

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) displayed performance after record bearish trend yesterday, as the benchmark 100index crossed 9,500-point level, Geo News reported Tuesday.

Today the trade activity started into positive territory and the same trend continued the whole day with the index was once seen touching 9,645-point level. However, the blasts at Islamic University limited the activity, which pushed the index to close at 9,569 up 158 points.

The trade volume was 220 million shares with the maximum activity recorded in shares of Jahangir Siddiqui Company, which closed at Rs39.06 up Rs1.06.

Meantime, KSE 30-index closed at 10,126 up 163 points. According to experts, the market can show resistance at 9,600-point level in the coming days.

PESHAWAR: Sugar crisis in Peshawar continues as majority of markets are offering sugar to general public at Rs.65 to70 per kg, reports Geo News on Tuesday.

Sources said that scarce supply of sugar from sugar mills into markets has caused this price hike. Many shopkeepers are selling sugar at high prices due to scarcity of sugar.

Shopkeepers said that sugar is not supplied to them according to quota system.

DCO Peshawar Sahabzada Mohammad Anees told Geo news that stoppage of sugar supply from Punjab has been the reason behind dearth of sugar in market.

He said government is taking strong measures against sugar crisis and sugar supply from Punjab will be regulated soon.