PRO 18-01-2013_Layout 1 1/17/2013 11:23 PM Page 1
Friday, 18 January, 2013
stocks close higher, rupee steady KARACHI
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Online
HE Pakistani stock market closed higher yesterday as the market steadi e d amid news that the major political parties had reached consensus on election related issues and a government delegation met a cleric leading a protest in the capital. Mid cap stocks remained active. The greatest volumes of trade occurred in Fauji Cement stocks, followed by finance firm Jahangir Siddiqui and Byco Petroleum, said dealer Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities. The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.68 percent, or 109.62 points, higher at 16,291.09. Fauji Cement rose 2.37 percent to 6.90 rupees per share while Byco Petroleum was up 3 percent to 13.37 rupees per share. D.G. Khan Cement dropped 0.74
17 water brands found to be unsafe, unhygienic for human health ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has revealed that 17 water brands are found to be unsafe and unhygienic for human health due to chemical or microbiological contamination. According to the monitoring report of Pakistan Standard Quality control Authority (PCSQA) for the quarter October-December, 2012 revealed that Atlantis, Mezban Water, Fresh Pure Water, Vina, Active, Excellent Natural, Al-Saudia, Kallan Water, Cool, Oriel, Tahoor, Nation, Lock, Aqua National, Aqua Life, Pan Pura and Premier were found unhygienic and dangerous to human lives. This report further disclosed that seventy seven samples of Mineral/Bottled water brands had been collected from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Multan, D.G. Khan Sargodha, Sialkot, Sahiwal, D.I.Khan, Quetta, and Peshawar. Online
ISE-10 StayS bullISh ISLAMABAD APP
Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE-10) here yesterday witnessed bullish trend as the index was up by 19.21 points to close at 3159.49 as compared to the previous day’s closing. The improving political situation in the country led the positive sentiments in the local stock market, said Zaheer Ahmed, Stock Analyst of Aba Ali Habib Pvt Ltd while talking to APP. Besides, the expectation of the positive earning of the corporate sector to be announced in the near future had also helped the market to close at green area, he added. Ahmed told that due to this, the punters were seen very busy in the intra-day trading especially in the cement and banking sector. The major positions were taken in the low-priced scrip including banking and cement and these positions were not squared up at the closing of the bourse which was the positive indication for the capital market in the future, Stock Analyst further said. A total shares traded was 73,500, which was up by 54,500 when compared it with a day earlier’s closing. Out of 137 companies’ shares traded, the price of 82 was increased while the price of 55 decreased. The price of top gainer Abbot Laboratories was increased by Rs.9.20 while the price of top loser Gatron Industries decreased by Rs.5.90. Fauji Cement Company, Maple Leaf Cement and Askari Bank remained volume leaders on Thursday, with volume of 33,500, 20,000 and 10,000 shares respectively. percent to 51 rupees per share and Lucky Cement fell 0.22 percent to 146.60 rupees per share.
In the currency market, the Pakistani rupee ended steady at 97.58/97.65 against the dollar, com-
pared to Wednesday’s close. Overnight rates in the money market remained flat at 9.40 percent.
LHC summons OGRA secretary on plea against substandard cylinders LAHORE APP
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial yesterday summoned the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Secretary over a plea seeking action against substandard CNG cylinder manufacturers. The single bench comprising chief justice passed the orders on a petition filed by petitioner-counsel Rana Mehtab. As proceedings started, OGRA’s counsel pointed out that a report had been filed on behalf of regulatory body regarding steps taken for the purpose. However, the chief justice termed the report insufficient after reviewing it. The petitioner-counsel appraised
the court of recent incidents of cylinder explosions which left many dead. The chief justice directed OGRA to take steps for stopping such incidents
and adjourned the matter till February 4 besides summoning the secretary OGRA on next date of hearing. The petitioner, in his petition, submitted that a number of persons lost their lives in explosions of CNG cylinders fitted in public transport vehicles. He contended that the explosions were taking place due to substandard cylinders and their installation by incompetent road- side mechanics. He contended that the respondent departments were also guilty of negligence as they were not performing their duties in accordance with law. He pleaded the court that directions be issued to respondents for taking immediate action against substandard CNG cylinder manufacturers and substandard installation workshops.
USAID to roll-out largest Automated Meter Reading Project in Pakistan ISLAMABAD APP
The United States Agency of International Development (USAID is in the final stages of rolling out a nationwide installation of Automated Meter Reading (AMR) projects. The project was started under its continuing efforts to assist government-owned power distribution companies (DISCOs) in loss reductions and revenue enhancements. Initially, the project would be targeting areas with high thefts and significantly high line losses, said a news release issued here yesterday. The AMR would provide highly accurate electronic meter readings with little human intervention, using computer technology to transmit meter readings data via GSM/GPRS and Radio Frequency. This would help DISCOs in monitoring the energy consumption trends among different consumer categories, understand consumer patterns, reduce electricity losses significantly and increase their revenues. The installation of AMR meters would start in the first quarter of the year. This was the largest AMR rollout in Pakistan with almost 17,000 AMR meters being installed among all five DISCOs. Under this project AMR meters will be installed at feeders, distribution transformers, agricultural tubewells, general and high-end consumers, in areas with a high number of thefts and electricity losses. The project was being launched as a model for the five DISCOs to showcase the benefits of the latest meter reading technologies. The program would also facilitate in establishing methodologies for energy accounting and cost of service studies for DISCOs. AMR experts from the USAID Power Distribution Program along with corresponding teams from all five DISCOs will be travelling to ITRON’s manufacturing facility at France on January 4, 2013 for Factory Acceptance Testing of AMR meters. The project’s long-term objectives were to work with DISCOs to establish the viability and sustainability of this technology to ensure reliable and accurate billing for all customers. This technology can result in improved revenue, reduced losses and identify theft for DISCOs. The USAID Power Distribution Program will also introduce new equipment specifically designed to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages. Besides AMR, smart metering and other hardware projects, the USAID Power Distribution Program was also providing trainings to DISCOs in strategic planning and change management, management development, planning and engineering, customer information system, lineman safety and skill enhancement, business planning and financial modelling, communications and customer outreach, gender equity and developing and training personnel.
CSF, remittances result in C/A surplus in the first half of FY13 KARACHI iSMAil DilAWAR
First half of the current fiscal year has offered the country’s dollar-hungry economic managers some relief on the current account balance front that ended up in a surplus of $ 250 million during July-DecFY13. This surplus was against a huge deficit of $ 2.426 billion the country braved in its current account during the correspondent period of last year, July-DecFY12. As a percent of GDP, the surplus stands at 0.2 percent compared to a deficit of 2.1 percent witnessed in 1HFY12. According to central bank, war reimbursements worth $ 688 million by the United States on account of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and persistent growth in the inflow of worker remittances were major attributing factors for the surplus. “This is because of the receipt of $
688 million coalition support in December and increasing remittances,” Chief Spokesman of State Bank of Pakistan Syed Wasimuddin told Pakistan Today. This surplus during December, when the CSF amount was transferred, was recorded at $ 697 million against a deficit of $ 85 million in same month of FY12. The official figures show that the trade deficit during the review period also decreased to $ 7.614 billion from FY12’s $ 7.895 billion. This marks an across the board slump in the country’s exports and imports the volume of which, respectively, shrank to $ 12.011 billion from $ 12.051 billion and $ 19.625 billion from $ 19.9465 billion of same months in last fiscal year. The months under review saw the Pakistanis working aboard remitting $ 7.117 billion, up by $ 792 million from last year’s $ 6.325 billion. The economic observers expect that the country’s remittance receipts would accumulate to the
historic $ 16 billion by the end the current financial year, FY13. This augurs well for the cash-strapped Pakistan where lingering uncertainties on the politico-economic and security fronts devalued the rupee to Rs 100 against the greenback on Wednesday. The State Bank on Thursday reported that the country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves had swollen up to $ 13.782 billion. If compared with last week’s $ 13.558 billion, till January 04, this figure showed an increase of $ 223.6 million or 1.6 percent, certainly an encouraging trend for the country’s economic managers who were said to have started negotiating with the IMF for a fresh loan to avoid a possible default on the balance of payment side. A break up of dollar reserves showed that during the week in review the central bank held $ 8.950 billion and the commercial banks $ 4.831 billion. Other heads on the Balance of Pay-
ment list depicted a negative trend with foreign disbursements contracting to $ 963 million compared to $ 1.022 billion the country received last year from its foreign lenders and donors. Of the total 963 million, $ 702 million (against $ 944 million of FY12) came under the head of long-term project loans and $ 5 million as program loans (against $78 million of FY12). Also, a short-term loan marked the Islamic Development Bank lending to Pakistan $ 256 million during the period under review. As the economic mangers were desperately striving to entice foreign investors to invest in the country, negatives like deadly politico-sectarian violence, particularly in the financial capital, kept the later at bay. Yesterday afternoon saw the coldblooded killing of an elected Member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh belonging to Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the
broad daylight. The deadly incident shut the paranoid city within minutes of the violent happening in Orangi Town neighbourhood. Given swift announcement of today’s closure by the transporters, private school association and the owners of fuel pumps, one could aptly say that the commercial hub would remain closed today. According to trade bodies a oneday closure cost trade and industry in the city at least Rs 5 to 8 Rs billion. This certainly would take a heavier toll on the country’s ailing economy where demand for bank loans from the private businesses was subdued and much of the bank loans were being sucked up by the funds-starved federal and provincial governments to bridge their ever-burgeoning budgetary expenditures. Ultimate sufferer, the analysts warn, would be the economic growth that was closely linked to increased economic activity which was only possible when the law and order situation was improved.
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Business 02
Friday, 18 January, 2013
Recent spell of rains to bring positive impact on Rabbi crops ISLAMABAD
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APP
ECENT spell of light rains would bring positive impact on Rabi crops including wheat, barley, mustard, lental, grams and other minor crop fruit and vegetables cultivated over large areas of the country to fulfil the domestic consumption of the food. Talking to APP here yesterday, Member of Crops Sciences in Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, Dr. Shahid Masood said that early sowing wheat was passing through the booting stage and it required a shower in this state as the recent rains proved blessings for the crop. There was a sufficient gap between first rainfall and recent spell of rains which are likely to continue till today evening and farmers can put fertilisers on their
fields, he added. He further informed that the rains were also beneficial for the late sowed crop which was cultivated by December and it was on five-leaves stage or pre-booting stage and it required water for further nourishment. Meanwhile, Agriculture Policy Development Institute (API) chief
Abdul Rauf Chaudhry said that current spell of rains will bring positive impact on wheat crop as it was time to water the fields because the wheat crops had started sprouting. Current spell of rains would bring positive affect on Rabbi crops particularly major food crops of the season including
wheat and different pulses sown over a vast area in the country. He said that wheat sowing position was quite encouraging as compared to the last year’s sowing because of early and timely rainfall during the start of the Rabbi crop season October and November. He said that wheat sowing also had got momentum and farmers were encouraged to cultivate more wheat due to government decision for enhancing wheat support price from Rs 1050 per 40 kg to Rs 1200 per 40 kg. The API head further informed that sufficient availability of other inputs like fertilisers, water for irrigation and seeds as compared to the last year will also help to enhance area under wheat sowing. Abdul Rauf said that recent spell of rains would be beneficial for other minor crops including fruit, vegetables and pulses grown over a vast area in the country.
Major Gainers COMPANY
OPEN
HIGH
LOW
CLOSE
CHANGE
TURNOVER
Indus Dyeing
590.00
619.50
594.99
619.50
29.50
1,000
National Foods
262.00
275.00
268.00
271.03
9.03
5,200
Pak Services
159.60
167.58
167.00
167.39
7.79
400
AL-Ghazi Tractors 222.93
230.00
224.00
230.00
7.07
2,000
Gatron Ind.
156.00
149.00
156.00
7.00
1,000
9999.00 392.30 359.90 173.00 110.11
9900.01 392.30 327.75 164.50 110.11
9969.67 392.30 330.00 164.50 110.11
-30.33 -17.00 -15.00 -8.50 -5.79
100 100 300 300 1,500
7.02 15.05 13.67 6.88 52.89
6.75 14.31 13.01 6.45 50.96
6.89 14.74 13.27 6.66 51.15
0.15 0.63 0.29 0.39 -0.23
16,948,500 14,083,500 13,720,500 13,372,500 6,977,500
149.00
Major Losers UniLever Pak Shezan Inter. Sanofi-Aventis Pak Sapphire Fiber Blessed Tex.
10000.00 409.30 345.00 173.00 115.90
Volume Leaders Fauji Cement Jah.Sidd. Co. Byco Petroleum TRG Pakistan Ltd. D.G.K.Cement
6.74 14.11 12.98 6.27 51.38
Interbank Rates US Dollar UK Pound Japanese Yen Euro
97.5951 156.2887 1.0976 130.2406
Forex Rates BUY
Pak-India trade may dip by 20% in 2012-13: Assocham NEW DELHI: The bilateral trade between Pakistan and India is expected to decline by 20 per cent in 2012-13 due to the ongoing tensions at the Line of Control ( LoC), Assocahm today said. “Trade between India and Pakistan may dip by 20 per cent in 2012-13 due to the current disturbances on the borders and also within Pakistan,” the chamber said in a statement. During the first half of the fiscal year, the two-way trade stood at $ 1.1 billion, it said. “The on-going atmosphere will have its own repercussions and will be reflected on cross-border trade. Also, Indian businessmen and small merchants who were contemplating trade relations with Pakistan have put their plans on hold,” it added. Assocham said that in 2011-12, the bilateral trade stood at USD 1.9 billion. India’s export to Pakistan in the last fiscal declined by 25 per cent to $ 1.5 billion, it said adding, however, imports from Pakistan grew by 48 per cent to $ 400 million. inP
PIA chairman invites associations to finalize charter of demand KARACHI nni
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Chairman and Secretary Defence Lt. Gen. (R) Asif Yasin Malik has invited all associations and CBA of the National Flag Carrier to discuss and finalize their Working Agreements/Charter of Demands. The invited Union/Associations include CBA for group 1 to 4, Senior Staff Association for officers above group 5, Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP), Aircraft Technologists Association of Pakistan (ATAP), Flight Engineers National Association (FENA), and Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (PALPA). The CBA had started negotiating with the management of PIA by presenting its Charter of Demand, and a positive outcome was expected soon, said a source. Meanwhile, PALPA, FENA, ATAP, SAEP, PIASSA were also expected to present their demands for salary raise and other perks and privileges to the management. They also demanded that pension of the retired employees should be increased every year in line with the salary increases of the regular employee according to the admin order number 21/2003. Also, there should be an increase in the pension from current
32% to 50% as per government rules. The associations welcomed the chairman’s initiative to call representatives of the union and all associations as it will help formulate a strategy on the long term basis for the revival of the airline and will win the hearts and minds of the employees. Sources said that the management of PIA was well aware that the employees were facing difficulties due to rise in inflation and they needed some help to cope with this issue. “Since the employees are backbone of the airline, their demands and salary review is their basic right,” said the source. The management of PIA had given a pay raise to the employees some 10 years back, while the federal government had raised the salaries of its employees/defence personnels three times during the last five years. According to sources the PIA management had asked the government to allow raising salaries of PIA employees as the management wants to retain its highly technical and professional workforce at any cost because this was the only way to ensure the airline’s progress. Otherwise many new airlines in the region especially from Middle East were hunting for such workforce, offering huge salaries to aviation people as nothing replaces experience in this high tech aviation industry.
US Dollar Euro Great Britain Pound Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal Australian Dollar
98.70 130.40 156.37 1.0900 98.83 12.45 26.70 26.15 102.62
SELL 99.40 132.61 158.97 1.1074 101.12 12.77 27.10 26.54 105.81
SECP chairman outlines capital market development initiatives ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Muhammad Ali yesterday outlined capital market development initiatives including investor education and awareness Infrastructure development and wider distribution networks by capitalising on automation and encouraging a sub-broker regime. He announced the initiatives while speaking at the Charter Awards Ceremony of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Pakistan, a statement issued by the Commission here said. Muhammad Ali also congratulated the new CFA Charter holders on earning the prestigious CFA designation. While welcoming the new Charter holders to the investment community, SECP Chairman informed the cream of the investment industry attending the event, of the capital market development initiatives taken by the SECP keeping in mind the five areas of market development, which SECP had identified as being essential for the development of our capital market. He stressed that it was important to note that we need to work simultaneously on all the aspects for effective implementation. APP
CORPORATE CORNER SSGC announces CNG closure schedule
age of electricity, report on toll free number 0800-84338 (THEFT), their names and addresses will be kept confidential. PR
KARACHI: Sui Southern Gas Company has announced the schedule for closure of CNG stations for the current week. According to a media release of SSGC, all the CNG stations in Sindh will remain closed from 8am on Friday, January 18, till 8am on Sunday, Jan 20 for 48 hours only. This step is being taken by the gas utility to according to ‘Gas Load Management’ program, the spokesperson of SSGC disclosed. PR
PTCL inks agreement to provide DCS to Meezan Bank
LESCO CEO urges priority to customer services LAHORE: Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Chief Executive Muhammad Saleem has urged the LESCO officers to improve customer services with a view to further facilities consumers. While addressing a meeting of senior engineers and directors at LESCO H.Q, Chief Executive LESCO Muhammad Saleem said that all steps be taken for upgradation of power system to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to all consumers. He also said that all efforts to save energy should be accelerated. For domestic and especially commercial connections, LESCO requests electricity consumers that if they find any pilfer-
KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL), the largest integrated telecommunications services provider in the country, and Meezan Bank have announced an agreement for Data Center Services provisioning. Under the agreement, PTCL will provide Data Center services to Meezan Bank for its Disaster Recovery Data Center (DRDC). This strategic partnership shall enable Meezan Bank in disaster recovery and business continuity, reduce internal network operations cost, provide geographical redundancy and add greater resilience to its network. The state of the art Data Centers of PTCL offer strategic ICT solutions through a highly secure and reliable network infrastructure providing optimum network security, storage facilities, resource utilization and scalability which reduce the cost of data ownership and management. PTCL will host Meezan Bank’s data services at the company’s Data Center in Islamabad, providing convenient and secure network support to the bank’s 300 branches in 90 cities nationwide. PTCL has also recently signed an agreement with
Meezan Bank, enabling the banks customers to enjoy PTCL EVO Wireless Broadband services along with the services of Meezan Bank. Zaman Gulzar, PTCL Executive Vice President (EVP), National Sales, while speaking at the occasion said, “This partnership will enable Meezan Bank to increase its productivity and focus on its core business of financial solutions. PTCL’s dynamic end to end ICT solutions provide reliable network services, continuous operation support and scalability for network expansion”. Faiz ur Rehman, Chief Information Officer, Meezan Bank while speaking on the occasion said “the synergy between PTCL and Meezan Bank will improve operational efficiency of Meezan Bank and augment our vision of delivering exceptional services to our customers”.
censed territories and has seen a major successful response so far. Nando’s alongside Phegency Casting Agency, founded by Pheby Haroon in November 2011 has collaborated to kick start the year 2013 with a new line up of Open Mic nights. For this event in particular, Phegency has put together the internationally recognized comedian Danish Ali to host this event together with the band ‘LaamSakin’ from Islamabad. The two phenomenal performers of LaamSakin, Ali Hamdani and Usman Shakeel perform in Karachi for Nando’s for the 1st time ever. PR
PR
Nando’s Butterfly Chicken Breast Meal success celebrated KARACHI: Nando’s Pakistan Pvt Ltd held an event to celebrate the success of its World Wide Licensing centralized initiative Butterfly Chicken Breast Meal at Nando’s Boat Basin, Karachi. The meal is a unique meal offering with Nando’s famous Peri Peri Flame grilled Chicken Steak, a fresh side salad, Crispy Wedges and a Designer Drink called Rosa Fresca. It has been launched simultaneously in all 12 of Nando’s Worldwide Li-
KARACHI: Zaman Gulzar, PTCL Executive Vice President (EVP), National Sales and Arif Ul Islam, Chief Operating Officer (COO) & Executive Director, Meezan Bank, signing an agreement to provide Data Center Services to Meezan Bank in a ceremony held at Meezan Bank Head Office. PR