profit.com.pk

Bulls tumble another record, indexsoars 189 points Page 03

Tuesday, 06 March, 2012

YoU can tell budget season is nearwhen the finance ministry beginslast-quarter growth strategy

chatter, FBR chairman promises no newtaxes and the prime minister directs theplanning commission to makedevelopment and employment its toppriority. Watch for spirited pledges tosafeguard the development budget next.Could these be coded signals? By plottinga return to growth, do fiscal andmonetary authorities actually mean thatthis time they’ll restrict governmentpresence in the money market, drawingthe crowded out private sector back tothe capital market? By no new taxes, isthe FBR chairman actually implying thatthe boys have got a handle on expandingthe tax net, and they’ll come up tocapacity within the present regime beforeconsidering new taxes? And is the primeminister really trying to say that the oldculture of inefficient enterprises andpolitical appointments is over? Simplyput, policy is not the biggest problemconsidering the present circumstances,practice is. Since we are effectively inelection cycle, official circles are bestadvised to avoid slogans that have beenrepeatedly rubbished, and that too oftheir own doing. True, development mustreturn to the economy, but that willrequire setting a series of events inmotion, which in turn demands anofficial posture not always suited toelection time in our part of the world. onthe other hand, avoiding decisions crucialfor economic revival will not sit well withan already disgruntled electorate anyway.Still, it’s not really a difficult choice.What must be done must be done. And

that will take a lot more thanmere promises.

QuICk EdIT

Electionyear growth

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

INDIAN marble market which sofar remained untapped is morelucrative for Pakistani marblecompared to the Chinese

market.Pakistani exporters of marble who aregoing to attend the forth comingexhibition in New Delhi are of theview that Islamabad could hardlymeet the huge demand for marble inthe neighbouring country.According to them, the foreign marketfor raw material, processed and semiprocessed marble has remaineduntapped during the last 60 years.The first ever exhibition ‘LifestylePakistan’ scheduled to be held nextmonth could be a good initiative toopen door for various kinds ofPakistani marble.Though 60 per cent of the country’sexports of raw material go to Chinafrom where the processed marble isre-exported to other countries,Pakistani marble could also enter

many other potential markets throughvalue addition in India. As latestIndian made machineries of themarbles sector are already cominghere from Dubai, the further transferof technology could also help theexporters to sale processed andfinished material abroad. “The bigimporters/exporters of marble inChina and India are mostly unawareof the reserves and quality of thestones produced inPakistan,” Sanaullah Khan Chairman,All Pakistan MarbleMining, Processing andExport Industry toldProfit on Monday.The only issue here washow to increaseproduction /miningof marble as theprecious stonesworth $1 billionwere beingconsumed locally,while demandsabroad were also increasing day by day,he added. The global demand

for Pakistan’s marble, which isconsidered to be one of the best in theworld, is already increasing. SaudiArabia’s projects for building new citiesare the latest in view, implying greatpotential of purchasing Pakistan’smarble on a large scale. SaudiArabia also has plans for erecting theworld’s tallest building (around 1,000metres tall, while close to 300 civilconstruction projects are alreadyeither in progress orin design across

the Saudi Kingdom. All thisconstruction means a greatamount of profitfor Pakistan via export ofits high-quality marble.In the next five years,marble export is expectedto increase to about abillion dollars – a greatboost for Pakistan’seconomy. However,certain challenges needto be overcome; themain challenge beingthe power crisis in thecountry which ishindering theprocessing of rawmarble in the marblefactories. Updatingthe machinery andtechnology forenhancedperformance of themarble industry isanother majorrequirement.Together withgranite (used inconstruction);marble leads thelist of Pakistan’seconomicallyviable mineraldeposits.Besides themaindrawbacks of

this industry is the absence ofsophisticated techniques; miningthrough explosives which do not allowproduction of large slabs of marble andimplies important wastage.

MARBLE EXPORTS

g Pakistani marble exporters to attend first ever exhibition in India

Indian marble market morelucrative than Chinese

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

A joint task force of the State Bankand Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP)has been set up to draft a frame-

work for establishing a vibrant corporatedebt market in the country.

This was disclosed by Governor StateBank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar while de-livering his key-note address at a confer-ence on ‘Long Term Debt Financing -Issues and Challenges for Pakistan’ organ-ised by the Institute of Business Manage-ment (IoBM) here Monday. According tothe SBP governor, the tasks of the joint taskforce include develop guidelines for shelfregistration of corporate debt, collabora-tion with credit rating agencies to stream-line the issuer and instrument ratingprocess, coordination with provincial au-thorities on rationalisation of stamp dutyon transfer and issuance of corporate debtinstruments, collaboration with the FBRand government of Pakistan to rationalisetax treatment of corporate debt instru-ments as to encourage the development ofcorporate debt market it is essential thattaxation issues are addressed in an appro-priate manner and communicated to thestakeholders, develop standards for valua-tion of corporate debt instruments.

A document containing all conven-tions and standards is a need to stream-line the approval process of shelfregistration with an objective to facilitatethe issuer, he said.

Anwar said these initiatives are of ut-most importance to be above to movefrom a purely banking loans market to-

wards a vibrant debt capital markets.“This will not only facilitate providing

diversified investment avenues for vari-ous stakeholders, but would also help inimproving saving ratios of the countryand enable borrowers to raise efficientlyprice financing for crucial infrastructureprojects, he said, adding that in this re-gard, the investment banks as well as de-velopment finance institutions shouldalso play a significant role in the develop-ment of a vibrant corporate debt market.

SBP Governor said corporate debtmarkets are important for several reasons:as a source of long term financing; provid-ing competition to the banking sector; andenhancing financial stability. “I believethat we need to develop an alternative av-enue of intermediation: corporate debtmarket. These markets will allow the chan-neling of funds directly from savers to theprivate sector – matching the demand forfunds for long term investments with thesupply of long term savings,” he added.

He said the existence of a functioningprivate bond market serves both borrow-ers – by broadening access to funding,and by lowering borrowing costs – as wellas savers. “In Pakistan’s case in particular,it would provide savers with an alterna-tive to bank deposits. It has long beenrecognised that the presence of such mar-kets is a significant source of competitionfor the banking system,” he added.

It is a matter of concern and indica-tive of potential that the size of the listedcorporate debt market in Pakistan standsat less than one per cent of GDP, he saidadding that a corporate debt market couldenhance financial stability by mitigatingrollover interest risk for borrowers. He

said corporate debt market can improvethe allocation of capital, as market-deter-mined rates provide a clearer measure ofthe opportunity cost of funds. Governorsaid in an uncertain macro environment,banks were reluctant to advance long-term loans to the private sector and oftenresort to short-term lending. “This im-plies that in the absence of corporate debtmarket, firms will find it difficult to risefunding for long-term investment proj-ects,” he said. Essentially, he said, theshort-term nature of bank lending wouldbias capital investment in general, andmay exacerbate cyclical fluctuations ineconomic activity. “This will be particu-larly true in industries where costs are re-covered over a much longer-term. Suchindustries include construction, powergeneration, etc,” he added.

He pointed out that in most countries,the government – as the largest issuer ofdebt securities – provides the volume re-quired for a liquid secondary market. InPakistan, however, PIBs are unable toserve this for two reasons, he said, andadded ‘firstly, the market is not suffi-ciently liquid, and secondly, there is nobenchmark for private bonds that are is-sued for a tenor of between 5 and 8 years- since PIBs are only available in maturi-ties of 5 and 10 years.

Anwar said competition from thegovernment for the same pool of savingsundermines progress towards greater fi-nancial deepening. The risk-free natureof investment in various NSS schemes,their ad-hoc rate adjustment, and theability to redeem prematurely, domi-nates any corporate bond in the market,he said, adding that the private sector,

therefore, has to issue bonds that carrya higher interest rate than NSS rates tocompensate for the risk of default thatthe private sector carries. ‘This makesthe issuance of corporate sector debt ex-pensive,’ he added.

He suggested the process for primaryissuance of corporate debt should be sim-pler one and fast track; so that a corporatecould raise funds quickly when conditionsare favorable for debt issuance. Shelf reg-istration is an efficient way of issuing thedebt instruments as it saves the cost andtime. Although, in Pakistan we have shelfregistration for corporate bonds but itusually takes long time for the approvalprocess, he said and added that consider-ing the persistently thin volumes on BATSdeveloped by KSE, market participantsshould be encouraged to use BloombergEBND, which trades almost 65 per cent ofvolumes, also trading in corporate debtinstruments. SBP Governor said the ap-petite for raising debt on the capital mar-kets is also an issue. Corporates arereluctant to approach the bond marketbecause of the disclosure requirements,and their preference to remain undocu-mented, he said and added that the cor-porate culture in the country mustchange, so that family-owned businessesare not constrained from future growth.

Anwar recalled that our fiscal deficit isnot unmanageable, but we need to deepenour financial markets to ensure that anyadverse development on the fiscal side ofaffairs does not negatively impact the poolof credit available to the private sector.“There is immense room for improvementwhen it comes to financial deepeningthrough bond markets,” he added.

SBP, SECP joint task force set up to establish vibrant corporate debt market

PRO 6-03-2012_Layout 1 3/6/2012 12:34 AM Page 1

debate02Tuesday, 06 March, 2012

Gas restored for SNGPL based plantsLAHORE: After several months of forced closure due to gascurtailment in 2011 and first two months of 2012, gas supplyto fertiliser plants on SNGPL network was restored onSaturday, excluding Dawood Hercules Fertilisers Limitedsituated at Sheikhpura, whose gas supply remainedsuspended. The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)based plants that include Pakarab, Engro Enven, Agritechand Dawood Hercules Fertilisers, with an accumulative ureaproduction capacity of 2.2 million tonnes have been facinghuge gas curtailments throughout 2011 and since thebeginning of 2012. Besides the 62 days of shutdown during2012 to date, Dawood Hercules Fertilisers was shut down for192 days, Engro Enven for 190 days, Agritech for 173 days andPakarab for 144 days during 2011. In the absence of gassupply which is a raw material the fertilisers industry couldonly produce 4.9 million tonnes of urea against an installedcapacity of 6.9 million tonnes in 2011. This record shortfall inthe production of urea forced the government to spend nearly$800 million in precious foreign exchange for import ofcostly urea and further Rs54 billon as subsidy on importedurea to keep it at the price of locally produced urea. Whilewelcoming the government’s decision to resume supply of gasto Pakarab, Agritech and Engro Enven plants, the CEoDawood Hercules Fertiliser, Rashid Lone regretted that DHFertilisers are facing discriminatory treatment in the matterof supply of gas. He pointed out that DH Fertilisers remainsthe only fertiliser factory on the SNGPL network to which gassupply has not been restored. STAFF REPORT

ICCI for fair utilisation of EOBI fundsISLAMABAD: The ambitions of the cash rich state ownedEmployees old-age Benefits Institution (EoBI) to financemega infrastructure projects has drawn criticism from theIslamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) whichhas demanded that the government should use its funds forsocial security and welfare of private sector workers instead ofspending on non-welfare purposes. President ICCI YassarSakhi Butt on Monday said that the workers were deprived oftheir old age pension, health and educational benefits as thegovernment was spending and investing these funds inunnecessary and un-profitable investments. He said thatindustrial workers of the private sector play vital role in theeconomic development of the country and they should befacilitated and all options should be utilised to secure theirrights. He said the benefits provided by EoBI to workers werenegligible and there was a need to chalk out a broad policy tosafe-guard the rights of labourers. He urged the governmentto contribute in the social security funds being the trustee ofthese funds rather than spending such funds for the politicaland other non-development purposes. STAFF REPORT

PIAF urges govt to focus on economic activitiesLAHORE: Pakistan Industrial and Traders AssociationsFront (PIAF) has urged the government to focus onpromotion of economic activities in the country as an acuteshortage of gas, electricity, political instability and highcost of doing business were coming in the way of achievingeconomic targets. In a statement issued here, PIAFChairman Engineer Sohail Lashari said it was veryunfortunate that no new dam was built in the country since1973, while the entire country was in grip of load-sheddingfor the last many years. He said during this period, Indiagot 100 new dams and its GDP growth is an eye-opener forall. He said only because of electricity shortage, investmentboth at local and foreign level, has nose-dived rather anumber of existing industrial units have shifted theiroperations to the other countries. PIAF Chairman saidcountry’s reliance on costly thermal power has jacked upthe cost of doing business in the country thus makingPakistani merchandise less attractive in the globalmarketplace. Engineer Sohail Lashari said enhancedeconomic activities would help government get rid of bankborrowings and maximum funds would be made availableto the business community. STAFF REPORT

uBL Omni wins GSMA Global Mobile AwardKARACHI: United Bank Limited’s Branchless BankingService, UBL omni recently won the GSMA Global MobileAward 2012 for “Best Use of Mobile in Emergency orHumanitarian Situations”. The announcement was made ina special ceremony at the GSMA’s Mobile World Congressin Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday 28th February. GSMA(Groupe Speciale Mobile Association) Global Mobile Awardis the telecommunication industry’s biggest annual event.This year it received a record 600 entries from all over theworld for the 31 categories. More than 170 independentanalysts, journalists, academics and subject matter expertsthroughout the world participated in the judging of the2012 awards. For UBL omni, the judges commented thatthere was growing interest in how to direct aid payments tothe needy and this scheme utilising mobile phones is avaluable initiative. STAFF REPORT

TdAP workshop on export proceduresLAHORE: Trade Development Authority of Pakistan(TDAP), Lahore is organising a workshop on ‘ExportProcedures’ on 15th March 2012. The workshop will focus oneducating news exporters from development sector aboutcost and time effective documentation for execution of ordersand effectively dealing with banks, freight forwarders,customs, brokers and foreign buyers. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI

ISMAIL dILAWAR

THE central bank Mondayasked the commercialbanks to maintain record ofthe sugar exporting mills to

ensure that the exporters do not ex-ceed the maximum prescribed quotaof 5,000 tonnes per sugar mill. TheEconomic Coordination Committee(ECC), in its January 31st meeting,had said yes to the demand of Pak-istan Sugar Mills Association to allowthe export of 100,000 tonnes of sur-plus sugar to, apparently, ward off apossible glut in the local market.

The Ministry of Commerce,through public notice number7(2)/2012-E-III, had tasked the StateBank of Pakistan to “monitor the ex-ports and no form (E) shall be issued

in excess of individual and cumula-tive ceiling” that was set at 5,000tonnes by the ECC. Monday saw thecentral bank notifying the authoriseddealers in the Foreign Exchange of a“mechanism” of compliance with re-gard to the sugar exports by themillers. Under the mechanism, theSBP said, the banks would forwardfor its approval the requests of thesugar mills along with photocopies ofE-Form, the contract, Letter ofCredit, advance payment etc.

“The banks should also maintainthe record of each sugar mill to en-sure compliance of maximum pre-scribed quota of 5,000 tonnes persugar mill,” said the State Bank. Allrequests, it said, should be addressedto the Director Exchange Policy De-partment of the SBP, situated in reg-ulator’s head office here. The central

bank would allow permission againsteach E-Form on first come first servedbasis, it said adding the bank con-cerned would send sugar export up-date to the Director Exchange PolicyDepartment on weekly basis. TheState Bank warned that the applica-tions that are “incomplete” or receivedto it after April 15 (2012) would not beconsidered. “Authorised dealers areadvised to bring the same to the noticeof all their constituents,” the bank saidthrough issuing EPD Circular LetterNo. 03 of 2012 on Monday. The Min-istry of Commerce, in a public notice,set following conditions for the millersto export excess sugar.a) 100,000 tonnes of sugar will be

exported.b) A quantity not in excess of 5,000

tones shall be exported by indi-vidual sugar mills on first come

first basis.c) The export shall be made only

against “E” Form.d) The State Bank of Pakistan will

monitor the exports and no form(E) shall be issued in excess of in-dividual and cumulative ceilingmentioned above.

The federal government had bannedsugar export in 2009 when prices ofthe daily-use kitchen item skyrock-eted to double, over Rs80 per kilo-gram, in the domestic market. Sincethen the sugar millers have been de-manding of the government to allowthe export of sugar that is in excessof the country’s strategic stocks.Pakistan consumes, annually,around 4.2 million tonnes of sugarwhile the expected surplus at theend of current season is estimated at1.5 million tonnes.

Banks to keep an eye on millers to ensure 5,000 tonnes sugar export quota

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

P LASTIC importers andmanufacturers havethreatened to shut downtheir businesses and

stage sit in protest againstunchecked smuggling of plasticmoulding compound from Iranby land route.A nine-member delegation ofPunjab Plastic Importers andManufacturers Association calledon LCCI President Irfan QaiserSheikh on Monday and informedhim that the unchecked menace ofsmuggling was not only causing aloss of Rs25 billion annually to theexchequer, but also hitting hardthe entire businesses.Punjab Plastic and ManufacturersAssociation delegation, comprisingMalik Munwar, Javaid Jillani,Chaudhry Mobeen, Mian Anjum,Sheikh Waheed, Usman Sharif,Sheikh Pervaiz, Sheikh MohammadAyub and Malik Fakhir Sultan saidit is very surprising that on onehand, FBR authorities were exitingtax payers by issuing SRos like191(I) 2012 while on the other hand,the menace of smuggling is fastspreading its tentacles under theirwatch and at the cost exchequer.The delegates said the authoritiesconcerned should immediately banimport of Polyethene andPolyproplene from Iran via landroute from any border of Pakistan,as at present these products areavailable in the local market atRs20/kg, below the imported pricethat is very damaging for the localbusinessmen. They informed the

LCCI President that the associationhad already sent letters to FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) that thesmuggling of polymers from Iranwas not only causing huge loss tothe government, but was also badlydamaging the local investors whoare running their businessesthrough clean documentation. Theysaid only because of theseunscrupulous elements it hasbecome almost impossible for thegenuine businessmen to continuetheir businesses.They said that the total import ofplastic raw material Polyetheneand Polyproplene in 2010-2011was about Rs75.5 billion. Theimporters pay advance tax at portabout 38 per cent in lieu of dutiesand taxes and if the smuggling isnot stopped, it will lead to a loss ofminimum Rs25 billion to theexchequer. They said it was veryunfortunate that people sitting atthe helm of affairs of FBR aretaking this important issue ofnational importance very lightly.They said government would haveto weed out the menace ofsmuggling once for all to save thelocal investors and economy.Speaking on the occasion, IrfanQaiser Sheikh said LahoreChamber of Commerce wouldextend full cooperation to FBR if itinitiates a strict action against suchblack sheep who are not onlychallenging the writ of the law, butalso denting the economy in a bigway. He said growth of theunorganised sector must bechecked for the sake of organisedsectors that are doing businessafter paying all their dues.

FAISALABAD

FARAkH SHAHzAd

P AKISTAN Textile ExportersAssociation has expressed graveconcern over 354.5 milliondollars decline in national

exports and decline of 800 million dollarsin textile exports in the last fourmonths. This was expressed by Rana ArifTauseef, Chairman Pakistan TextileExporters Association addressing ahurriedly called press conference from theplatform of All Punjab TextileAssociations Council here Sunday.Addressing the press conference, RanaArif said slow poisoning of nationaleconomy is being precipitated due to thenon serious attitude of the government,as overall exports of the country areheading towards total collapse aftervisible decline in textile exports. He saidtextile was once mainstay of the nationaleconomy which was experiencingcontinuous decline particularly duringlast four months. He mentioned theenergy crisis and said summers havestarted, but still gas is only available twodays in a week. Similarly, electricity tariffhas been increased up to 40 per cent, butstill the menace of load shedding isplaguing the industrial sectors. He furthersaid textile exporters were pinpointing theroot causes of industrial decline withrepeated requests for necessary remedialsteps, but government remained mumand no proper strategy was carved out tosave textile sector from crisis. He said 40per cent industry has been closed whilethe remaining was running with 80 percent capacity. During the last fourmonths, decline of 800 million dollar intextile exports have been recorded andnow its fall out impact has been hittingthe overall exports which may lead the

country towards economic bankruptcy.He also quoted statistics of last five yearsand said during the month of January, arecord decline of 354.5 million dollars hasbeen registered which is alarming for theeconomic managers of the country. Hewarned this situation would spur inflationand unending vicious circle of getting loanto pay the loan from IMF with unbearableconditionalities. He said this situationwould add unbearable burden on theeconomy and make life of common manmiserable. Government has no financesto meet its expenditure and it was in thisrespect that it was forced to presentnational federal budget in the month ofMay, instead of June. Responding toanother question, Rana Arif said textileexporters had been forewarning thegovernment about the fast looming crisis,but no steps have so far been taken toratify the situation. Government failed tounderstand the gravity of the situation,despite our protestation, strikes and sit-ins and now they are highly disappointedwith the government’s attitude. Hefurther said various tax collectingagencies and departments are out toharass the industrialists in their bid toextort maximum money from them.Textile council in consultation with itsmember association was busy to finalisea new strategy to nail down thesedepartments and this strategy would beannounced very soon, he added. He alsoappreciated the government decision ofgiving the status of the most favouritenation status to India, but said that beforegiving this status, Pakistani governmentshould provide equal opportunities todomestic industrialist so that they couldcompete with them on equal footings. Hehoped that government would payserious attention to save forex earningsector before it is too late.

Plastic importers, manufacturersthreaten to shut down

Export crash continues amidgovernment lethargy

PRO 6-03-2012_Layout 1 3/6/2012 12:34 AM Page 2

24th Annual Marketing Conferenceof Fauji Fertiliser

KARACHI: The 24th Annual Marketing Conference ofFauji Fertiliser Company Ltd was held on March 01-02,2012 at Sheraton, Karachi. Lt General Malik Arif Hayat,HI (M) (Retired), the Chief Executive and Managing Di-rector of the Company presided over the conference. Thetheme of the conference was “Excellence – The Key toSustain Market Leadership”. It was attended by the en-tire marketing team and senior management of the com-pany. Besides review of performance for the year 2011,challenges pertaining to future fertiliser market, compe-tition and strategies to maintain the leadership positionwere also discussed. PRESS RELEASE

Pakistan, Afghanistan commit tostrengthen microfinance sectorISLAMABAD: Both Pakistan and Afghanistan,being neighbouring developing countries in theAsian region, can benefit by developing and pro-moting the financial infrastructure to supportmicrofinance through continuous knowledge andskill sharing experiences of their respective mar-kets. This was said in the press statement follow-ing the meeting of Ghalib Nishtar, President,Khushhalibank with the visiting officials fromAfghanistan representing the microfinance sec-tor that included, Bahram Barzin, Director Tech-nical Support, Monitoring and Supervision,Microsoft Investment Support Facility forAfghanistan (MISFA), and Mr Najibullah Samim,Executive Director, Afghanistan MicrofinanceAssociation (AMA), and Patmana Rafiq Kunary,Member Services Specialist, Financial Access forInvesting in the Development of Afghanistan(FAIDA). PRESS RELEASE

Servis comes up with a new campaign for summer

LAHORE: Summer festivity starts on a ‘feel good’note with an exciting new campaign from Pakistan’sleading footwear brand Servis unfolding in March.The campaign encapsulates the warmth and soft-ness of summer moments – it is that time of the yearwhen you drench happily in the rain, play cricket onthe beach, go partying with friends and basically doanything and everything that will take you outdoorsto catch up with fun in the sun with friends. The tel-evision commercial croons “Kabhi chaltay huay,ruktay huay, qadmon mein barhtay huay, baharonkay sang, yahan wahan, make me feel good, makeme feel good’, throwing the audiences into totalserenity with its soothing melody. PRESS RELEASE

NBP leads in agri credit financingwith Rs42.4 billion disbursed KARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan is among top‘five’ banks of Pakistan. While it offers complete rangeof commercial banking services, on the key areas islending to farmers. For the financial year 2011-12 theState Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has fixed an indicate lend-ing target of Rs280 billion out of this NBP has been as-signed the maximum share, a specialised institutioncreated to cater the needs of farmers. NBP takes pridein having disbursed even more than the target assignedlast year and aims at offering even better services to thefarmers due to its greater outreach. This becomes pos-sible only because NBP’s 875 branches out of total 1271domestic branches are involved in catering to the needsof farmers. The other feature distinguishing NBP is verycompetitive mark up rate, lower than the rate beingcharged by other financial institutions. The loans dis-bursed can be divided into two categories, productionand development loans. Under the first category loans

are disbursed mainly for the procurement of seeds, lev-eling land, pesticides etc and fertilisers and the secondcategory is for the purchase of agricultural tractors andimplements and construction of modern storage, cattlefarms, poultry farms, etc facilities.

LG opens two lifestyle galleries in karachi

LAHORE: LG Electronics (LG), a global leader in con-sumer electronics, mobile communications and homeappliances, recently opened two new showrooms at Za-mzama and Shahra-e-Faisal in Karachi. These show-rooms are LG’s first Lifestyle Galleries designed to servethe needs of customers by offering them the opportunityto experience the complete range of LG products. Cus-tomers have the chance to enhance their lives by havingaccess to the most innovative products in home enter-tainment, home appliances, IT and mobile communica-tions – all under one roof. Speaking at the inaugurationof the showroom, Mr DY Kim, President of LG Electron-ics, Gulf FZE-Pakistan said, “From innovative greenhealth home appliances technology and the latest smartphones to unique Cinema 3D TV technology, we arelaunching these showrooms to ensure convenience andaccessibility for our customers. The products we are of-fering through the showroom combine elegance, techno-logical advancement and ease of use.” PRESS RELEASE

ufone launches ShahCar offer ISLAMABAD: For the month of March, Ufone haslaunched an outstanding offer which will put 10 of itsvalued customers behind the steering wheel of theirvery own cars! Ufone’s ShahCar offer has paved the op-portunity for Ufone customers to take part in a luckydraw and win a smooth and sleek Toyota Corolla car.To be a part of the ShahCar offer, the Ufone customersneed to consume a minimum balance of Rs200 duringthe month of March. This will automatically qualifythem enter a lucky draw where 10 lucky customers willbecome proud owners of fabulous 1300cc (Toyota

Corolla xli) cars. The winners will be contacted byUfone itself via call from ‘333’ number or via an SMSfrom ‘Ufone’ ID. This offer is applicable from 1st March2012 to 31st March 2012. PRESS RELEASE

Surf Excel re-launches through 3d displayKARACHI: Unilever Pakistan has always chosen themost spectacular and unique ways to introduce itsbrands. This is the first time 3D projection has been usedin Pakistan. Surf Excel is being re-launched through this3D display on PNSC building which is a key landmark ofKarachi. Everyone present was enthralled by this uniquespectacle. With this 3D projection Surf Excel has becomethe first brand to use this technology in Pakistan. Let’sgo over now to PNSC building where this intriguing pro-jection is taking place. PRESS RELEASE

Samsung invites innovative ideas from consumersLAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co Limited is aglobal leader and award-winning innovator in con-sumer electronics, digital media and telecommunica-tions. Recently, it engaged the consumers on facebook,through “Samsung Eco-Bubble Idea Contest” aimed atgathering fresh ideas for enriching product benefits.The contest generated a great response and valuableideas from the consumers that can make the Eco-Bub-ble washing machine even more interesting and en-joyable to use. The winning participant, with the mostinnovative idea, was rewarded with a fabulous prize -A Samsung Galaxy Tab. The winner, Mr MohammadAhmed from Multan, presented the most novel idea;Samsung Galaxy Tab built into the Eco-Bubble wash-ing machine to deliver exciting new experiences for theconsumers. PRESS RELEASE

news

Tuesday, 06 March, 2012

03

CORPORATE CORNER

LAHORE: Mr Hirofumi Nagao, Md/CEO, Pak Suzuki Motor CoLtd inaugurated the project of renovation and constructionat Govt Primary Boys Secondary School. PRESS RELEASE

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Nestle PakistanXD 3801.89 3991.98 3670.00 3991.98 190.09 406Colgate Palmolive 816.50 850.00 805.00 843.23 26.73 132Indus Dyeing 388.66 408.09 369.70 402.25 13.59 573Wyeth Pak Limited 760.97 780.00 753.00 773.12 12.15 160Tri-Pack Films 198.26 208.17 199.00 207.77 9.51 18,883

Major Losers

Pak Services 138.65 134.00 131.72 132.65 -6.00 246EFU General Ins 76.00 78.50 72.20 72.37 -3.63 37,263ZIL Limited 55.02 56.34 52.27 52.74 -2.28 6,202Clover Pakistan 49.10 47.00 47.00 47.00 -2.10 690National Foods 93.00 92.50 91.00 91.00 -2.00 7,350

Volume Leaders

Fauji Cement 5.03 5.24 4.84 4.89 -0.14 32,784,665Jah Sidd Co 9.37 10.37 9.37 10.37 1.00 27,489,494Bank Al-Falah 14.53 15.53 14.78 15.53 1.00 23,073,011Arif Habib Co SD 30.97 32.51 31.20 31.88 0.91 22,006,695National Bank 52.85 55.19 52.65 53.82 0.97 19,077,850

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.8485UK Pound 143.4861Japanese Yen 1.1181Euro 119.6292

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.60 91.10Euro 119.34 120.54Great Britain Pound 143.17 144.49Japanese Yen 1.1039 1.1137Canadian Dollar 90.56 92.00Hong Kong Dollar 11.49 11.74UAE Dirham 24.63 24.82Saudi Riyal 24.13 24.29Australian Dollar 96.07 98.50

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE Karachi stocks marketwitnessed another bullishday on Monday with trad-ing volumes peaking to

new highs on the back of what marketanalysts said a follow on of the apexregulator’s confirmation for the im-plementation of the capital gains tax-related reforms from next month.

“The bullish activity witnessed atKSE amid higher trades leading theindex to record close as a follow on ofapex regulator confirmation for re-formed CGT regime implementationfrom April1,” viewed Ashen Mehanti,a director at Arif Habib Securities.

The first trading day of the weeksaw the benchmark KSE 100-shareindex gaining 189.34 points to closeat 13,278.31 points as against13,088.97 points of Friday last week.“The KSE100, as expected, made an-other positive day with high turnoverof 200mn shares. The index man-

aged to post a new high and the high-est close for the current uptrend,which is a healthy sign,” commentedAbdul Azeem, an analyst at Invest-Cap. The index was seen hitting theintraday high and low of 13,311.79points 13,080.83 points.

The total traded shares at theready-counter were counted at record295.138 million shares compared to253.003 million shares of the previ-ous session. The trading value alsoskyrocketed to Rs8.120 billion fromFriday’s Rs6.576 billion.

According to analysts, the factorsthat played as a catalyst for Monday’sbullish sentiments on the market in-clude retail and institutional interestwitnessed on strong valuations inbanking, oil and fertiliser stocks, theresumption of gas supplies in fertilisersector, the easing of circular debt con-cerns in power sector after electricitytariffs were raised by 39 per cent bythe Nepra after a major earning an-nouncements. This was despite “con-cerns for falling rupee dollar parityand current account deficit,” added

Mehanti. The market capital increasedto Rs3.441 trillion against Rs3.392trillion of previous day. of the total355 scrips traded, 210 gained, 86 lostwhile 59 remained unchanged.

The turnover in future contractsalso witnessed an upward trend andsurged to 17.021 million shares fromlast week’s 14.310 million shares.Fauji Cement kept dominating thevolumes and counted its tradedshares at 32.78 million shares eachpriced at Rs5.03 in the opening andRs4.89 in the closing.

Bulls tumble another record,index soars 189 points

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

AS part of its mandate to de-velop the capital market, theSecurities and Exchange

Commission of Pakistan has approvedregulations governing ExchangeTraded Funds (ETFs) for the KarachiStock Exchange (KSE). The trading inETFs at the stock exchanges will pro-vide investors with alternative invest-

ment avenues while allowing diversi-fied portfolio of securities that track abenchmark index and improve liquid-ity in the market. Internationally,ETFs are among the fastest growinginvestment products which due to agrowing demand are being cus-tomized to cover specific arrays of re-gions, sectors, stocks, commodities,bonds, futures and other asset classes.The approved regulations will enablethe stock exchange to list and regulate

trading in ETFs which at their core areportfolios of securities that are tradedlike individual stocks on an exchange.The regulations broadly cover the list-ing procedure for ETFs, trading andclearing and settlement of ETF units,disclosure requirements for assetmanagement companies, obligationsof authorised participants, fee struc-ture etc. Aspects related to marketmaking by the authorised partici-pants will be covered in the KSE’s

regulations for market making. Therole of market makers remains cru-cial in trading ETFs as the arbitragetrades by these participants narrowthe gap between ETF market pricesand the net asset values of the in-dexed shares. The ETFs in generalprovide investors with various bene-fits such as trading flexibility; diver-sification of overall portfolio andtransparency in terms of publishingunderlying holdings on a daily basis.

SECP approves regulations for kSE Exchange Traded Funds

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