PRO 02-08-2012_Layout 1 8/1/2012 11:21 PM Page 1
Thursday, 2 August, 2012
Raja gears up to turn PIA’s fortunes around PM asks Finance Ministry to release $4.5m for PIAC’s uplift
ISLAMABAD
P
APP
rime minister raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday instructed the Finance ministry to provide 4.5 million dollars to Pakistan international Airlines Corporation (PiAC) on priority, after fulfilling necessary formalities. The Prime minister while chairing a meeting to review the performance of PiAC, assured its management that he would favourably consider conversion of rs 8 billion loan by the federal government into equity. The Prime minister directed the ministry of Finance to workout a plan for rescheduling of loans of rs 147 billion owed to different banks by PAiC, to ease their financial situation. He lauded the business plan worked out by PiAC and observed that he saw a ray of hope for PiAC’s turnaround and improvement in its services. The Prime minister said the government would extend all possible assistance to the PiAC management to regain its status worthy of a national carrier.
PM likely to announce package for PSM ISLAMABAD ONLINE
Prime minster raja Parvez Ashraf is likely to visit Pakistan Steel mills (PSm) within two weeks where he will formally announce a bail out package and relief for its employees. According to media reports, government sources said Prime minster raja Parvez Ashraf has assured the CeO Steel mills, major General (retd.) mohammed Javed and Chairman CBA, Shamshad Qureshi about his expected visit to Steel mills. Last week, a delegation of Pakistan Steel mills had invited him to visit the Steel mills. Consequently, it is expected that Prime minister raja Pervez Ashraf will visit Pakistan Steel mills before or immediately after August 14. it merits mentioning here that the federal government has already allotted rs 14.6 billions on account of bail out package to the steel mills. About 17000 people are employees of Pakistan Steel mills while it is bearing a monthly deficit of rs 1.5 billion.
KARACHI Despite negatives like the ongoing political turmoil and ratings downgrade by moody’s Pakistan remained the best performing market of Asia during the month of July, shows the mSCi indices. During the month in review, the benchmark KSe 100-share index marked an appreciation of 5.6 percent month-onmonth (mom) after resuming its rally that was suspended since march this year. This was unlike the historical pattern depicted in the past 10 years’ July monthly returns that averaged at 2.2 percent. The market average value, however, have been lower in the last decade with only $ 43 million, down 80 percent from decade’s average at $ 119 million. “if we segregate the monthly return in two halves, we find that during the first half of the month, the market remained in upward trajectory and touched the highest level of 14,568 on closing basis,” viewed mazhar A. Sabir, an analyst at in-
US imposes new sanctions on Iran oil sector
He expressed the hope that the PiAC management under its new leadership would bring about marked changes in the organization in shortest possible time, so that the people could feel the difference. The Prime minister appreciated the initiative of PiAC to carry Hajjis from iraq, myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, enabling them to perform Hajj. However, he observed that these operations should in no way create any cause of complaints for Hajjis travelling from Pakistan. Chairman PiAC Air Chief marshal (retd) rao Qamar Suleman in his presentation briefed the Prime minister on the salient features of the business plan worked out by the new management in line with directions and policy guidelines given by the President and the Prime minister of Pakistan. On the current financial and operational problems faced by PiAC, he said that fuel cost and cost of financing were eating away a substantial part of the annual revenue of rs 117 billion. He proposed short term, medium term and long term plans to resolve the problems being faced by PiAC. The Chairman said the business plan had been prepared with a view to rationalize expenditure on one hand while endeavouring to optimize revenues on the other. He requested the Prime minister to convert the federal loan of rs 8 billion loan into equity and allow roll over of rs 147 billion loans due to various banks. He also requested for an immediate assistance of 4.5 million dollars for acquiring aircraft on dry lease.
InflatIon clIngs
onto a downward spiral KARACHI STAFF REPORT
The month of July augured well for the consumers in Pakistan who must have heaved in relief as the backbreaking price hike during the review month not only plunged to a single-digit but also hit the lowest level since December 2009. According to available figures, the Consumer Price index (CPi) inflation during July stood at 9.6 percent as against 11.26 percent of last month in June. “The reported CPi is the lowest since December 2009,” said the analysts at Topeline research. On monthly basis, the inflation stood at -0.3 percent compared to 0.04 percent of the previous month. This monthly inflation numbers, the analysts said, came in negative after six months. “Though still awaiting the detail break-up, we believe the subdued number in the month of June is a reflection of decline in average petroleum prices and 18 percent decrease in consumer gas tariff effective from July 2012,” said Topeline analyst Nauman Khan.
KSE bulls rule over Asia ISMAIL DILAWAR
Iranian sanctions soap opera recommences
vestCap research. Sabir cited improvement in the PakUS strained ties after the resumption of Nato supplies as a major attributable factor for the stocks market’ rally saying, however, in the later part of the month the market remained stagnant and the index showed range bound behavior with low activities highlighting the investors’ mood during this holy month of ramadan. The analysts at Topline research, however, opine that better foreign inflows and easing inflation, along with improving Pak-US relations, helped Pakistani equities to outperform Asian emerging and frontier markets. According to Farhan mahmood, a Topline analyst, with continued headwinds in the euro zone and uncertain global economic growth, all leading mSCi indices remained almost flat during the month. The mSCi World posted 1.2 percent return while mSCi emerging and mSCi frontier markets posted a return of 1.6 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. On the other hand, Pakistan market
Analysts foresee ease in monetary policy as inflation slides to single-digit Further, he said the ramadan factor had not been incorporated in these inflation numbers. “These soft numbers attach a lower side bias to our average FY13 inflation forecast range of 10-11 percent,” he added. The analyst said he was firm that the soft inflation numbers coupled with $ 1.2 billion disbursement by the United States under the long-withheld Coalition Support Fund would help the State Bank to reduce the discount rate by 50 basis points in the upcoming monetary policy decision. Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yasin Anwar, however, had once, in an exclusive interview, told Pakistan Today that inflation numbers for a single month could never be a yardstick for making changes in the discount rate which is determined keeping in view the overall economic conditions.
outperformed all regional markets. Amongst 12 Asian countries tracked by the mSCi, Pakistan posted highest US dollar return of 5.6 percent beating all other regional markets that posted a return ranging from negative nine percent to four percent. Compared to KSe 100-share index’s 5.6 percent growth, india and China, the two leading markets, posted negative returns of 1.1 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. moreover, Pakistan’s performance relative to other Asian frontier market, like Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bangladesh, was far better with all posting negative return of 0.4 percent, 2.0 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively. “So far in 2012 Pakistan is second best performing market in Asia while it is top performing in Asian Frontier markets,” mahmood said. During the year, he said, the benchmark index posted a gain of 22 percent in dollar terms only to be beaten by Philippines that posted a return of 27 percent. Compared to foreign net selling of $ 109 million ($40 million excluding Hubco deal) in June, the foreigners in Pakistan turned net buyers of $30 million (gross buying $64 million, gross selling $33 million) during July.
WASHINGTON AGENCIES
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday imposed new economic sanctions on iran’s oil export sector and on a pair of Chinese and iraqi banks accused of doing business with Tehran. in a statement released by the White House, Obama said the new measures underlined the United States’ determination to force Tehran “to meet its international obligations” in nuclear negotiations. The sanctions came on the same day as the US State Department branded iran “an active state sponsor of terrorism” in its 2011 annual terrorism report, and as US lawmakers prepared to vote legislation demanding more action. Obama is keen to show his iranian sanctions regime is tough, amid fears israel may launch unilateral strikes against iran if it believes the islamic regime is on the point of achieving the capability to build a nuclear bomb. “This action is designed to deter iran from establishing payment mechanisms for the purchase of iranian oil to circumvent existing sanctions,” Obama said, warning that US sanctions will be apply to any entity buying iranian oil. Obama said measures would be taken against firms that have dealings with the National iranian Oil Company, the Naftiran intertrade Company or the Central Bank of iran or that help iran buy US dollars or precious metals. “Today’s action makes it clear that we will expose any financial institution ... that allows the increasingly desperate iranian regime to retain access to the international financial system,” he said.
Garment sector exports decline by $139m ISLAMABAD ONLINE
Chronic power and gas shortages severely hit the domestic garment sector of the country as it exports fell by $139 million during financial year 2011-12. The country’s garment exports declined by $139 million, from $1.773 billion in fiscal year 2010-2011 to $1.634 billion in fiscal year 2011-2012. According to exporters they had suffered eight percent decline in exports of readymade garments in the last fiscal year. According to former chairman of Pakistan readymade Garments manufacturers and exporters Association (Prgmea), ijaz A Khokhar garment exports had declined by at least 15 percent. He said that the production of garments had declined between 35 percent and 40 percent because of persistent shortages of electricity and gas. He said that labourers had become 30 percent more expensive; adding to the overall cost of production, making domestic products uncompetitive in global markets. He said that despite the presence of lucrative opportunities, local investment had completely stopped.
So far in 2012, foreigners have bought $540 million worth of shares while sold $541 million value of shares, thus resulting in net selling of $1 million. However, if we exclude Hubco deal, then foreigners are net buyers of $68 million in 2012YTD. The future outlook of the local equities, the analysts believe, is positive. A sector-wise performance shows that July saw the cement sector outperforming the KSe 100 index returns and posting a return of 16 percent based on market capital followed by financial services and software and computer service sectors, which posted returns of 13 percent and 12 percent mom, respectively, compared to 6 percent return of the index during the month. “The corporate result season is getting in its full swing, this holy month of ramadan may see slightly better returns compared to last a couple of years,” said Sabir. in addition, the analyst said, the central b a n k ’ s
monetary policy decision for the next two months, due in August, had also turned favorable for the stocks investors as no change in (12 percent discount rate, which may continue provided the State Bank borrowing of the government together with inflation stays within targeted limits for FY13.
Pakistan conjures up 10-year high equity return, beats rest of the Asian markets hands down
PRO 02-08-2012_Layout 1 8/1/2012 11:21 PM Page 2
Business 02 LCCI has had enough of the VIP culture Urges govt to withdraw power cut exemption given to VIP grid stations LAHORE
T
ONLINE
He Lahore Chamber of Commerce and industry while expressing deep concern over awful prolonged load shedding, has demanded of the government to withdraw immediately the exemption of loadshedding being enjoyed by ViP grid stations other than hospitals and sensitive installations. “The govt. would not be able to control loadshedding unless and until the exemption given to the ViP entities is withdrawn. We are not talking of hospitals and sensitive installations.” in a statement issued here, the LCCi President irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that how the people sitting on the helm of affairs and bureaucracy could feel gravity of the situation when they are enjoying uninterrupted electricity supply through these ViP grid stations. “They will work on war footing to enhance the power generation when they will face 14 to
18 hours loadshedding in a day”, he added. The LCCi President said that government has not shown any seriousness in solving the unprecedented energy crisis that has forced the fasting people to take to the streets to draw the attention of the President of Pakistan, the Prime minister and the ministers towards this pathetic situation. “it should be an eye-opener for the government that not only the opposition, but allies are also registering their protest against loadshedding in National Assembly and Senate”, irfan Qaiser Sheikh said. He said that the private sector was engine of the growth and in the developed countries it is facilitated to the maximum but in Pakistan circumstances is quite different. irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that LCCi has repeatedly warned the government of massive lay-offs and industrial closures if it fails to immediately stop power outages but the government has miserably failed to control the situation. The LCCi President said that government
would not be able to control the situation triggered by the demonstrations and strikes called by the angry industrial workers against their retrenchments as a result of these power outages. “How the government would establish its writ and from where it would collect revenues to run its day-to-day affairs when the industrial wheel is coming to a grinding halt.” The LCCi President said that the government should understand that economic well being is a must for democracy. Unemployment, price-hikes, industrial closures always gives birth to lawlessness and anarchy. Therefore, the government should understand the ground realities and reset its priorities regarding provision of electricity to the industry. irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the industry needs continuous supply of electricity to keep the units operational and to complete the export orders well within the given timeframe but only because of the shortage of electricity the exports are not up to the mark.
Major Gainers CoMPANy UniLever Pak Rafhan Maize SPOT Colgate Palmolive Bata (Pak) Limited Shezan Inter.
oPeN 7755.00 3525.00 1192.06 675.00 250.21
HIgH 8000.00 3649.00 1251.65 700.00 262.00
Low 7750.00 3649.00 1245.00 667.00 259.99
CLoSe CHANge TuRNoVeR 8000.00 245.00 80 3649.00 124.00 20 1251.65 59.59 100 700.00 25.00 3,800 262.00 11.79 300
2850.00 359.00 126.50 154.57 126.24
2850.00 333.00 120.80 150.00 122.51
2850.00 337.95 120.96 152.00 124.00
-116.25 -9.53 -3.04 -2.57 -2.24
40 4,500 31,500 10,100 4,400
7.36 47.53 6.33 5.10 15.70
6.25 46.12 6.15 4.86 15.21
7.33 47.43 6.26 5.06 15.36
0.97 1.22 0.11 0.19 0.02
17,926,000 12,893,500 9,137,000 6,397,500 4,161,000
Major Losers Unilever Food Mithchells Fruit Shell Pakistan Ltd. Pak.Int.Cont SD Murree Brewery
2966.25 347.48 124.00 154.57 126.24
Volume Leaders Maple Leaf Cement D.G.K.Cement Fauji Cement Lafarge Pakistan Jah.Sidd. Co.
6.36 46.21 6.15 4.87 15.34
Interbank Rates US Dollar UK Pound Japanese Yen euro
94.6497 147.9091 1.2113 116.4475
Dollar East Buy
Dollar slips as central banks huddle
A mini bull stampede
WASHINGTON: The dollar lost ground against the euro, yen and the Swiss franc Tuesday, as traders awaited news from meetings of the Federal reserve and the european Central Bank. Analysts began to wonder if the central banks would provide substantial monetary stimulus, despite remarks last week by european Central Bank chief mario Draghi, as US data pointed towards a possible pick-up in activity. “We think there is plenty of scope for disappointment,” said Paul Dales at Capital economics. “We doubt the Fed is ready to sanction a third round of large-scale asset purchases today, while the eCB’s bark could prove louder than its bite,” he said. Draghi had pledged to do whatever was necessary to protect the euro. in foreign exchange deals, the euro rose to $1.2298 from $1.2259 in New York late monday. AGENCIES
LAHORE: The Lahore Stock exchange on Wednesday witnessed bullish trend by gaining 10.23 points as the LSe-25 index opened with 3659.16 and closed at 3669.39 points. The market’s overall situation also corresponded to an upward trend as it remained at 6.019 million shares to close against previous turnover of 2.198 million shares, showing an upward move of 3.820 million shares. While, out of the total 86 active scrips, 25 moved up, 41 remained equal and 20 shed values. Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Lucky Cement Limited and D.G.Khan Cement Company were major Gainer of the day by recording increase in their per share value by rs 3.90, rs 2.72 and rs 1.20 respectively. iCi Pakistan Limited, engro Corporation Limited and Arif Habib Corporation lost their per share value by rs 6.91, rs 1.50 and re 0.53 respectively. APP
LSE up 10.23 points
SBP starts operations to supply fresh currency notes ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has started the supply of fresh currency notes to the general public from Wednesday which will continue till last working day of the holy month of ramzan. The State Bank will issue fresh currency notes particularly of small denominations rs10 to rs100 to commercial banks depending upon their branch network. The Bank has planned to issue only one packet each of rs10 and rs20 person to the visiting general public and account holders. The new currency notes can be obtained from commercial banks as well as the Central Bank. ONLINE
US Dollar Euro Great Britain Pound Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal Australian Dollar
94.10 115.44 146.36 1.1948 93.32 11.98 25.58 25.08 98.15
SeLL 94.90 116.50 147.66 1.2052 94.66 12.15 25.78 25.23 100.47
KSE approves formal listing of Aisha Steel KARACHI: Karachi Stock exchange (KSe) has approved the application for formal listing and quotation of shares of Aisha Steel mills Ltd on completion of all relevant listing requirements. According to KSe here Wednesday, the trading in the shares of Aisha Steel on the ready board will commence from August 6, 2012. The opening price of company’s share will be offer price (rs 10 per share). The shares of the company had already been declared as eligible shares by the Central Depository Company Ltd (CDC). APP
CORPORATE CORNER PTCL launches first telecom services in new Margalla housing society
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has commenced telecommunications services in the newly developed Margalla View Housing Society, Islamabad. PTCL is the first telecom operator to commence telecommunications services in the area, by deploying its network and ONU in Margalla View Housing Society located in Sector D-17 of Islamabad in a record time of six months following an agreement with the Society. PTCL Regional General Manager Islamabad, Nadeem A. Awan inaugurated the services in a colorful ceremony hosted by President of the Margalla View Housing Society Mr Raja Ilyas. More than 200 residents of the area specially attended the ceremony to thank PTCL for commencement of services before time and praised PTCL for its immaculate services. On the first day of launch, PTCL installed more than 100 double play packages, which includes free monthly on-net call minutes and Broadband Internet. All triple services including Fixed-Line, Broadband Internet and Smart TV are now available in the area.PRESS RELEASE
Rozee.pk conducts a survey on the Pakistani job market LAHORE: Labour force survey of Pakistan paints quite a hunky-dory picture: 6% unemployment rate in the previous year, which makes one wonder, where is the lucky 94%? ROZEE.PK Pakistan’s leading job portal in its recent survey draws a linear trend over past two years for the applications received per job posting in various
functional areas. Approximately 8.14 million job applications were analyzed to determine which of the functional areas invited the most attention for the users and whether the respective field created enough opportunities to meet the supply. Talking about the survey Monis Rahman, CEO Rozee.PK said, “The purpose of the survey is to enlighten all the prospective job-seekers to tap into the market gaps that are under-supplied and to inform prospective employers about the level of attractiveness the job’s functional area represents to the job-seeker.” ROZEE.PK’s survey analyzes 63 such unique functions where employers are seeking labor and where they are not. 46% of these are under the threat of being over supplied (excessively in some instances) by labor force. Functional areas including Accounts & Finance, Procurement, Sales and Training & Development have shown a consistent oversupply of labor over the years and will continue to do so. PRESS RELEASE
Bahria Dastarkhawan serving free Iftari to thousands daily
LAHORE/ RAWALPINDI: Keeping its decade old tradition alive, Bahria Dasterkhawan is serving free Iftari meals to thousands of fasting poor and needy fellow countrymen, nationwide this Ramazan. Known for providing free meals twice a day to over one hundred thousand people daily, Bahria Dasterkhawan has made special arrangements this year as well to make sure that free and quality iftari is been served at all the Bahria Dastarkhawans nationwide. In addition to regular Bahria Dasterkhawans, the management has set up special Ramazan Dasterkhawans so that maximum guests may be able to reach and get free
Iftari. The Iftari meals at Bahria Dasterkhawan comprise of all the essential nutritional elements like fruits, dates and main course meal to cater all the fasting needs. The Iftari disbursement starts at 5:45pm to cater to the increasing number of Iftar guests every day. The officials of Bahria Dasterkhawan expressed their pleasure on the number of people being served everyday from their service and maintain that it’s a blessing by Almighty Allah on Bahria Town for which they are always thankful. PRESS RELEASE
NBP, Merchantrade launch NBP Foree Cash, Foree Transfer services KARACHI: Acknowledging the needs of Pakistani Diaspora in Malaysia for sending money to their loved ones in Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan and Merchantrade Asia SDN BHD (Merchantrade), a recognized remittance service provider in Malaysia, have launched NBP Foree Cash and NBP Foree Transfer remittance services in this auspicious month of Ramadan which will further facilitate the celebration of Ramadan/Eid festive. “NBP is one of the largest players in the remittance market of Pakistan and the remittance arrangement with Merchantrade is another milestone to establish its goal,” said Khalid Bin Shaheen. He expressed the hope that the bank is constantly working to enhance its services and expand its network all over the world to achieve greater customer satisfaction. The amount remitted from Malaysia can be collected from any of the NBP nationwide 1277 branches. In order to receive Cash Remittance, it can instantly be collected via NBP Foree Cash, even without having a bank account. NBP Foree Transfer offers credit to the individual accounts in over 1200 online branches. PRESS RELEASE
blood tests for high cholesterol as early as age nine. The state of Pakistan’s public sector health services is at best abysmal. Over stretched and underfunded there is no policy in place to either regulate health care nor is there any policy to ensure industry development and growth. It is important to remember that Pakistan has a very young population; some seventy percent population of Pakistan is under thirty years of age. PRESS RELEASE
Standard Chartered first half profit up 9% to $3.95bn KARACHI: Standard Chartered PLC today announced a rise of 9 per cent* in both income and profits to US$9.51 billion and US$3.95 billion respectively for the first half of 2012. This represents a tenth consecutive record first half of profit growth. The diversity of our income from a range of countries, products and services continues to underpin our success. Growth in our footprint markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East remains robust and our extensive network across the major global trade and investment flows continues to provide a key source of competitive advantage. We remain strongly differentiated. One example is our ability to step up investment spend to grab the long term growth opportunities we see across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. PRESS RELEASE
No policy to regulate health care in Pakistan, experts KARACHI: Screening of cholesterol levels in children may be helpful in reducing risks of heart related problems in later age, a study by institute of U.S. guidelines aimed to help prevent and treat condition in children that put them at risk for heart-related problems. The U.S guidelines are endorsed by the Academy of Pediatrics, while panel also suggests that all U.S. children should get
KARACHI: MCB Bank donated Rs 1 million to Alshifa Trust, Business Head CBBG North MCB Bank Zargham Khan Durrani presenting the cheque to President Al-shifa Trust Eye Hospital General Hamid Javaid.
Thursday, 2 August, 2012