Tuesday, 1 January, 2013

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

EqUITIES at Karachi Stock Exchange(KSE) achieved an all-time intraday highabove the historic 17,000 levels on Mon-day but profit-taking clipped wings of thehigh-flying bulls towards the end of the

session as investors’ participation depicted betternumbers.

The benchmark KSE 100-Index shed 0.22 per-cent or 37.86 points but managed to keep the psy-chological 16,900 levels as it ended trading at16,905.33 levels on Monday as against close of16,943. 19 levels recorded on Friday as Pakistan In-ternational Airlines, TRG Pakistan Limited, JahangirSiddiqui Company Limited, and Azgard Nine Lim-ited empowered bears to make their way back intocontention.

The KSE All Share Index dipped by 0.34 percentor 41.05 points to end at 11,964.24 levels as againstFriday’s levels of 12,005.29, the KSE 30-Indexdropped 0.23 percent or 31.56 points to conclude at13,764 levels on Monday as against Friday’s13,795.56 levels, whereas the KMI 30-Index fell by0.36 percent or 105.47 points to finish the inauguralday of the week at 29,125.55 levels on Monday whencompared with 29,213.02 levels recorded in finaltrading session of the previous week.

The Karachi Stock Exchange showed promise inthe early hours of trading which helped the mainindex to storm past the historic 17, 000 levels atround halfway stage and soon it hit the highest-everintraday levels of 17,031.84. The last time the keyindex had smacked an all-time intraday high was onDec. 21, 2012 when it touched 16,967.82 levels dur-ing intraday trade.

However, some profit-taking took the strengthout of the bulls above 17,000 levels and it came

below the historic levels and entered the red terrainin the second half where minutes before the closingbells the key index was recorded languishing at thelowest level of the day of 16,889.96 before managingto close the session above 16,900 levels.

Market analysts are of the view that most of thestocks ended in red territory on first trading day ofthe fresh week as some scrips performed well owingto some specific news in their respective sectors.

They stated that despite of the fact that Byco Pe-troleum (53 paisas), Bank of Punjab (1 rupees), NIBBank Limited (11 paisas), Maple Leaf Cement (3paisas), and Pakistan Telecommunication CompanyLimited (24 paisas) ended in green zone, profit-sell-ing in Fauji Cement (-5 paisas), Lotte Pakistan PTALimited (-8 paisas), Karachi Electric Supply Com-pany (-18 paisas), and Engro Foods Limited (-76paisas) hurt the market sentiments.

According to Mohammad Sohail, a senior equityanalyst and Chief Executive Officer of Topline Re-search, the index crossed the historic 17,000 pointsmark due to a “strong rupee”.

“In-spite of economic woes, heightened securityenvironment and power crisis, Pakistan’s total re-turn KSE -100 Index has been one of the best per-forming markets in the world,” he said.

To Sohail, a rate-cut of 4.5 percent by the centralbank during last 18 months was the major stimulusfor the equity market’s boom. The monetary easing,the analyst said, not only boosted earnings, but alsoencouraged the flow of funds from government se-curities to equities. “Resolution of Capital Gain Taxissues, improved relationship with US, better foreignflows and serenity on the political canvas wereamongst other factors that created positive senti-ments in the market,” he said.

Asked if he also deemed the transfer of $688 mil-lion by Washington under the Coalition SupportFund (CSF) as one of the major attributable factors

for Monday’s skyrocketing of the index, the analystreplied in negative.

“The CSF news came Friday morning… Pakrupee gained this morning,” he said.

Other market observers like Ashen Mehanti alsoput forth various reasons for keeping the investors’sentiments positive on Monday.

“Pakistan stocks closed lower on institutionalprofit-taking after the index crossed historical highof 17,000 level,” said Mehanti, a director at ArifHabib Securities.

He said higher global commodities led the in-vestors’ sentiment positive in the trading sessionamid concerns for rising political uncertainty afterpolitical leaders call on long-march on Jan 14.

“Expectations of lower CPI Inflation for Dec’12and release of $ 688m Coalition Support Fund andpositive fertilizer off-take data for FFC and FFBL af-fected the sentiments,” Mehanti added.

He said the falling banking spreads and globaluncertainty over America’s fiscal cliff approval alsoaffected the foreign inflow at the Karachi bourse.

KSE sheds 0.22 pct after hitting record 17,000-mark

KARACHI

AGENCIES

Pakistan has delayed the grant of MostFavoured Nation-status to India along withabolition of a negative trade list regime “fora short time” because of reservations ex-pressed by several industries, CommerceMinister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said.

“The process of (phasing out) the neg-ative list and granting MFN-status hasbeen delayed for a short time. The reasonfor the delay was reservations of various in-dustries about protecting the interest oflocal manufacturers,” Fahim said.

Fahim said the decision to delay thephasing out of the negative list and thegrant of MFN-status was made after he haddiscussed the issue with his Indian coun-terpart.

“I talked to Indian Commerce MinisterAnand Sharma on the issue and he under-stands the issue and agreed to the delay fora short time,” he said.

The Pakistan government is takingsteps to address the reservations expressedby some domestic industries over the grantof MFN-status to India, Fahim told re-porters on the sidelines of a meeting atthe Karachi Chamber of Commerceand Industry over the weekend.

Fahim said he could not give afresh date for granting MFN-sta-tus to India. A final decisionwould be made by the cabinet, hesaid.

Pakistan had earlier said itwould phase out the negativelist regime by December 31,paving the way for MFN-status tobe granted by the New Year.

The negative list allows com-merce in all but 1209 items.

Islamabad had earlier missed an-other deadline for removing restric-tions on trade through the land routebefore end of October, 2012.

During talks held in Islam-abad in September, the twosides had agreedthat Pakistanwould re-

move all restrictions on trade by theWagah-Attari land route before the end ofOctober.

Following this, the Indian side wouldhave brought down its SAFTA sensitive listby 30 percent before December while keep-ing in view Pakistan’s export interests.

The Pakistan government has report-edly delayed the grant of MFN-status toIndia due to intense lobbying by the agri-cultural, pharmaceutical and automobilesectors.

Right wing and extremist groups likethe Jamaatud Dawa and Difa-e-PakistanCouncil too have opposed the trade liberal-isation measures.

However, Fahim contended that thegovernment was not acting under pressure.

“(MFN) is a WTO obligation and Pak-istan has to grant the status for enhancingtrade. It has nothing to do with (upcoming)elections,” he said.

The Indian side has expressed concernover Pakistan missing deadlines for tradeliberalisation measures.

Earlier this month, Indian High Com-missioner Sharat Sabharwal had stressed

the need for Pakistan to de-liver on commitments

mentioned in the jointstatement issued

after talks betweenthe CommerceSecretaries inSeptember.

Trade be-tween India andPakistan is cur-rently worth

about USD 2 bil-lion annually and

the two sides havesaid they want to in-

crease this figure tosix billion dollars

by 2014.

ISLAMABAD

APP

Fruit and vegetable exports from Pakistan during the first fivemonths of current financial year recorded 4.50 percent and 34.11percent growth, respectively as compared to the same period oflast year.

During the period from July-November 2012 fruit exportfrom the country increased by 4.30 percent as compared to theexports of same period last year where as about 150,624 metrictons fruit worth US$ 102.724 million exported.

According the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the ex-port of fruit was recorded at 175,123 metric tons worth US$98.300 million during the same period of last year.

During the period under review, country earned US$ 46.687

million by exporting of 97,928 million tons of vegetables asagainst the exports of $34.813 million of same period last year.

However, during the period from July-November 2012, theexport of leguminous vegetables (pulses) decreased by 47.21 per-cent as its export came down from US$ 1.885 million to 0.995million to, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, sugar export from the country during the periodunder-review recorded 100 percent increase as about 180,653metric tons of sugar worth US$ 98.54 million exported as com-pared to the same period of last year.

The other commodities which posted growth in their exportsduring the first five months of current financial year includedoil seeds, nuts and kernals by 33.15 percent, meat, meat prepa-rations by 42.08 percent and all other food commodities postedgrowth of 13.09 percent.

ISLAMABAD

APP

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf onMonday stressed on the need to devoteall energies for early completion of theNeelum-Jhelum Hydel Project.

The Prime Minister made these ob-servations during a high level meetingheld at the PM House to review theprogress on the project.

The meeting was attended by Min-ister for Finance Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh, Minister for Water and PowerChaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, DeputyChairman Planning Commission Dr.Nadeem ul Haq and other senior offi-cials.

Chairman of the Water and PowerDevelopment Authority (WAPDA) SyedRaghib Abbas informed the meetingthat 42% of the work on the tunnel hadbeen completed so far and the projectwas expected to be completed by 2016.

The Prime Minister said that theNeelum-Jhelum Hydro Electric Projectwas a strategic project of immense im-

portance and`the government wouldensure that the project was completedat all costs.

He constituted an Oversight Com-mittee comprising secretaries Finance,Planning and Economic Affair Division,

Special Secretary Water and Power,WAPDA Chairman and Member Fi-nance WAPDA to give suggestions toremove bottlenecks, if any, so that thework on the project continues withoutany interruption.

MFN to India delayed due toreservations by industry: Fahim

PM constitutes oversight committeefor Neelum-Jhelum Project

Fruit, vegetable exports post 4.40,34.11% growth in five months

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02

Tuesday, 1 January, 2013

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVER

UPFL 4,300.00 100.00 10.70 1.00 3.25 44.44%

COLG 1,500.00 30.55 14.45 0.53 2.25 25.00%

SIEM 774.68 17.44 151.54 1.74 1.87 16.88%

KHTC 141.20 16.37 92.04 0.96 1.75 16.67%

MFFL 385.12 10.12 17.35 0.24 7.20 16.13%

Major Losers

ULEVER 10,100.00 -400.00 437.54 -5.28 6.42 -13.48%NESTLE 4,733.33 -166.67 4.03 -0.40 3.91 -12.72%BHAT 257.01 -12.99 16.14 -0.38 3.06 -12.57%PICT 209.03 -11.00 98.14 -0.76 5.75 -11.54%INDU 270.00 -7.00 35.04 -1.00 4.70 -11.15%

Volume LeadersBYCO 14.45 0.53 16,316,500 14.45 0.53 16,316,500BOP 10.70 1.00 12,534,500 10.70 1.00 12,534,500PTC 17.35 0.24 11,980,500 17.35 0.24 11,980,500MLCF 14.57 0.03 10,951,500 14.57 0.03 10,951,500NIB 2.63 0.11 10,806,500 2.63 0.11 10,806,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 97.2098UK Pound 156.4105Japanese Yen 1.1302Euro 128.1614

Dollar EastBUY SELL

Australian Dollar1 00.51 01.5Canadian Dollar 97.4 99China Yuan 13 13.5Euro 128.3 129.7Japanese Yen 1.15 1.175Saudi Riyal 26 26.3UAE Dirham 26.5 26.85UK Pound Sterling 157.3 158.6US Dollar 97.3 97.9

Business

PTCL introduces standaloneSmart TV packagePakistan Telecommunications Company Limited(PTCL) has launched a standalone package for itsSmart TV customers. PTCL is the first and onlytelecom service provider in Pakistan that is offeringthis state-of-the-art digital interactive televisionservice. Equipped with unique features like rewindinglive programs and news through time shifttechnology, parental lock and digital quality Video onDemand (VOD), PTCL Smart TV allows customers tobe more interactive and in complete control of theirtelevision experience. The new package has beenspecially designed to bring added convenience forPTCL customers, enabling them to experience SmartTV without the requirement of Broadband internet.With this package, customers can now experienceinteractive TV at just Rs 450 per month. The packagehas an added advantage of unlimited calls on Sundayfrom PTCL Landline to Landline & Vfone for just199/month extra. Besides offering the highest digitalquality TV picture, Smart TV also gives customers theoption to choose high quality videos from a large poolof video library. “Access and control of content in apersonalized way is here to stay, and at PTCL we shallcontinue to offer our customers a dynamic, personaland digitally interactive television experience. PR

Glow by Warid brings the‘Teen ka tarka’ offer for youthWarid Telecom brings an exciting new offer ‘Teen kaTarka’ that will allow 3 Glow customers to subscribeand form a group to enjoy the lowest ever on-netcalls. The calls will be charged at only 35 paisas per30 secs with a daily rental charge of Rs 1.99. Thisoffer is yet another industry first by Glow that hasalways strived for cost-effective communicationsolutions and this new offer ‘Teen ka Tarka’ willenable, encourage and facilitate groups of 3 friends tostay in touch with each other at the lowest callcharges in the industry. Warid Telecom’s DirectorMarketing Communication Sadaf Zarrar stated, “Thisoffer is another step towards establishing Glow as thepremiere youth telecom brand in the industry. Ourresearch tells us that offers such as these have a lot ofrelevance with today’s budget-conscious youth whohave a need to communicate with one another inorder to connect for all their needs.” To add your on-net desired numbers in the Teen Ka Tarka offer, SMS

Teen<space><number1><space><number2> to2129. PR

LG products receivecarbon-free certificationLG Electronics (LG)has announced that ithas been awardedCarbon Free®certification for six ofits products,validating theconsumer electronicsand home appliancecompany’s strategy ofreducing its carbonfootprint. Followingon from LG’s activitiesin the low-carbonappliances sector, anumber of productshave been certified asCarbon Free® byCarbonfund.orgFoundation, a leading organisation in the fightagainst global warming and an authority onevaluating the impact individuals and businesseshaving on the environment. The products certifiedCarbonFree® include Optimus G smartphone,OLED TV, washing machine, refrigerator, vacuumcleaner and computer monitor. The products weresubjected to a comprehensive lifecycle analysis aspart of its certification process to determine thecarbon footprint throughout the wholemanufacturing process, spanning frommanufacturing and shipment to usage and finaldisposal. PR

Sindh Bank issuesperformance reportSubsequent to the grant of Banking license byState Bank of Pakistan on Dec 2, 2010 the bankcommenced its operations with theinauguration of its first branch at Naudero onDec 26, 2010 by President Asif Ali Zardari.However the bank was granted full fledgedlicense for operations in April 2011. It has nowan overall network of 160 branches across 80

cities in all provinces of the country includingAzad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), with specificpreference in Sindh province where the branchnetwork is 100. SBL is the only bank in thecountry to have established 160 branches inless than two years of its operations. The Bank’sperformance has been excellent in terms of itsprofitability and deposit mobilization. In itsfirst year of operation’s ended December 31,2011, the bank posted a pre-tax profit of Rs1,140 million and deposit base of Rs 23,517million. This has further improved to aroundRs 1.3 billion as operating profit and Rs 31billion in terms of deposits by end December2012. PR

Etihad Airways flies record10.29m passengers in 2012Etihad Airways has surpassed its target ofcarrying 10 million passengers in 2012 and isset to achieve a 22 percent increase on the totalof 8.41 million passengers for 2011, said theairline on Monday. The increase in passengernumbers - up to a total of 10.29 million -represents an extra 1.88 million passengerstraveling on the carrier’s global network thatnow covers 87 of its own passenger and cargodestinations, and 245 code-share destinations.The passenger growth for Etihad Airways ismirrored by its equity partners. By the end of2012, airberlin is expected to have carried 33.4million passengers, Virgin Australia 19.5million passengers, Aer Lingus nearly 11 millionpassengers, and Air Seychelles 241,000passengers. “Etihad Airways has achievedsignificant expansion in 2012 and therefore it’svery satisfying to pass our target of flying morethan 10 million passengers during a year for thefirst time,” said James Hogan, Etihad Airways’President and Chief Executive Officer. PR

Meezan Bank trains Islamicbankers in Sri LankaMeezan Bank held a three-day training on Is-lamic banking products for the managementteam of Amana Bank, Sri Lanka, the bank said onMonday. The training session held at the AmanaBank head office in Colombo, covered 24 prod-

ucts for financing, liability, treasury, trade fi-nance as well as other Shariah-compliant prod-ucts, it said. Meezan Bank’s representatives,Ahmed Ali Siddiqui - Head of Product Develop-ment and Shariah Compliance and Asim HameedKhan- Islamic Advisory, conducted the trainingswhich were attended by the senior management,middle management and nationwide branch staffof Amana Bank. Addressing the audience, Mo-hamed Azmeer - COO, Amana Bank appreciatedMeezan Bank’s trainings and highlighted them asa vital tool in their plans to launch the new Is-lamic banking products. PR

Extension of SSGC’s gasbills payment dateDue to the ‘Bank holiday’ on January 1, the due datefor the payment of gas bills for SSGC’s customersfalling on Jan 1 has been extended to Jan 2. Thishas been done as a special case to facilitate itsvalued customers, a SSGC’s press release said. PR

Bank HolidayThe State Bank of Pakistan and all offices of SBPBanking Services Corporation, inclusive of PublicDebt Offices, will remain closed for public dealingon Tuesday (January 1), which has been declaredas bank holiday. All Banks/DFIs shall, therefore,remain closed for public dealing on the abovementioned date. However, all officers/staff ofSBP, SBP-BSC, Banks/DFIs will attend the officeas usual. PR

Hasan Jamil, head of sales Dawlance, addressesthe launch ceremony of new range of microwaveovens on Monday. PR

CORPORATE CORNER

HONG KONG

AGENCIES

ASIAN markets mostly fell in New Year’sEve-shortened trade on Monday ashopes that US lawmakers will reach adeal to avert the fiscal cliff faded just aday before deadline.

However there was some bright news out ofChina, where a survey by HSBC showed manufac-turing activity hit a 19-month high in December.

Hong Kong closed flat, edging down 9.67 pointsto 22,656.92, but it closed out the year 22.91 per-cent higher. Sydney closed 0.48 percent lower,shedding 22.4 points to 4,648.9, although the indexis up 14.60 percent over the past 12 months.

Wellington was 0.35 percent lower, shedding14.39 points to 4,066.51, but adding 24.51 percentfor 2012. Singapore closed down 0.77 percent, or24.72 points to 3,167.08, while it is up 19.68 percentfor the year. Shanghai closed up 1.61 percent, or35.88 points, at 2,269.13, its highest close sinceJune 20. Kuala Lumpur added 0.45 percent, or 7.62points, to close at 1,688.95, while Mumbai was flat,edging down 18.13 points to 19,426.71.

Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Jakarta, Bangkok andManila were all closed for public holidays.

Despite the losses on Monday all the region’sstock markets ended the year higher, with Bangkokthe standout performer, surging almost 36 percent,while Shanghai was the weakest, adding a littlemore than three percent over the 12 months.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hillended Sunday without reaching a compromise overa deficit-cutting budget that would be less painfulthan the deep spending cuts and tax hikes due totake effect on Tuesday. Leaders remained locked intalks that appeared to be making little headway,with each side blaming the other as analysts warnedthe measures could tip the economy into recession.

Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch Mc-Connell warned that despite through-the-night

talks, negotiators were still a long way from success,with Democrats not responding to a “good faithoffer” from his party. Senate Democratic MajorityLeader Harry Reid agreed talks were at a standstill,adding: “There is still significant distance betweenthe two sides, but negotiations continue.”

If talks fail on Monday President BarackObama has demanded a vote on his fallback planthat would preserve lower tax rates for families onless than $250,000 a year and extend unemploy-ment insurance for two million people. But StanShamu, a market strategist at IG in Sydney, said heexpected some sort of plan to come out.

“No one knows how this will play out, but themost likely scenario is a patch-up deal to avoid a fis-cal catastrophe in the New Year,” he told Dow JonesNewswires. Despite the US fears the euro eased to$1.3191 from $1.3217 in late US trade Friday, butthe dollar rose to 86.03 yen from 85.98 yen. TheJapanese unit continued to be weighed by expecta-tions the country’s central bank will unveil freshmonetary easing measures next month.

The euro bought 113.50 yen from 113.62 yen.News out of Beijing was better, however, with

banking giant HSBC saying its final purchasingmanagers’ index (PMI) of the year hit 51.5, up from50.5 in November and a fourth straight month ofimprovement. A reading above 50 indicates expan-sion in the key sector, while one below signalsshrinkage. The figures reinforce recent indicationsthat the world’s second-largest economy is finallyemerging from its slumber. “Such a momentum islikely to be sustained in the coming months wheninfrastructure construction runs into full speed andproperty market conditions stabilise,” qu Hongbin,HSBC’s chief economist for China, said in the re-lease. On oil markets New York’s main contract,light sweet crude for delivery in February, shed 48cents to $90.65 a barrel and Brent North Sea crudefor February slipped 59 cents to $110.03.

Gold was at $1,664.64 at 1055 GMT comparedwith $1,658.90 late Friday.

Dollar downagainst euro,yen on fiscalcliff fears

SINGAPORE

AGENCIES

The dollar weakened against the euro inAsia Monday with traders fleeing the UScurrency as hopes faded that a deal couldbe reached to avert the fiscal cliff in theUnited States, analysts said.The euro advanced to $1.3227 in earlyAsian trade from $1.3217 in late US tradeFriday. The dollar also lost groundagainst the yen, slipping to 85.88 yenfrom 85.98 yen.The euro bought 113.57 yen from 113.62yen.Traders were pessimistic a deal could bereached to avoid the fiscal cliff of taxhikes and spending cuts before a January1 deadline, with negotiations appearingdeadlocked, said Yang Weiming,premium client manager for IG MarketsSingapore.“Previously there was greater optimismon the fiscal cliff, now their expectationshave been lowered,” he told AFP. Analysts fear that if a deal is not reachedto prevent the US going over the fiscalcliff, the American economy could betipped into recession.Despite overnight negotiations, USDemocrats and Republicans said littleprogress appeared to have been made.Senate Republican minority leader MitchMcConnell warned that negotiators werestill a long way from success, withDemocrats not responding to a “goodfaith offer” his party had made.

Asian markets weighedby US fiscal cliff gridlock

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