profit.com.pk

Bear hug drains KSE of 88pts underprofit-taking cloud Page 03

Karachi

GHULAM ABBAS

AN acute shortage of oil in the coun-try is looming as the supply fromKarachi terminals is feared to besuspended amidst protest of oil

tankers against cancellation of contracts byPakistan Vanaspati Manufactures Associa-tion (PVMA).

All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association(APOTA) has announced to stop all kinds of upcountry oil supplies if their demands are notmet within next 72 hours. Bakhtawar Khan,Chairman of the Association, told Profit thatthey have stopped over 5,000 vehicles of theirsas a protest against cancellation of the contractof supplying oil and ghee across the country.3,000 to 4,000 containers have also beenstopped at Port Bin Qasim area against the as-sociation’s protest over illegal arrest of theirfellows as well as cancellation of contracts.

He said they were providing the service tothe mills for the last 25 years, but their contracthad ended suddenly while giving the facility toNICL. Though PVMA has also asked the gov-ernment to provide security and ensure safetransportation of edible oil consignments fromKarachi to other cities after the recent incidentof burning oil tankers at Bin Qasim Area of thecity, the row between the two parties maycause serious shortages of oil up country.

It is worth mentioning here that owing tothe present situation, the price of edible oil inthe country has already jumped.

Bakhtawar Khan, leading a protest on Na-

tional Highway, near Port Qasim on Thursday,said though the highway was opened for trafficafter the protest, the sit in would be reorgan-ised if the concerned authorities did not takenotice of the grave situation within the nexttwo days. “No official form the governmenthas so far came here or contacted us to resolvethe issue,” he said The tussle between the twoparties was going on since PVMA started tosupply through National Logistics Cell (NLC)from Karachi terminal to Punjab, Balochistanand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Edible Oil Tankers Owners Association(EOTOA) had suspended its operation first onJanuary 10 against the decision of PVMA for sup-ply of the oil through NLC while neglecting theagreement signed with private transporters. How-ever, according to sources at PVMA, the associa-tion was free to decide how to supply edible oil tothe country’s markets. The private transporterswere not found reliable and up to the mark of themanufacturers. The repeated complaints of oiltheft and other issues have forced the associationto supply the commodity through NLC.

Almost 2,500 oil tankers are engaged intransportation of edible oil. According to areport, the annual consumption of edible oilin Pakistan is around two million tonnes andits usage in Pakistan is 11-12 kg per person,annually and 7-8 kg per person annually, inIndia. Pakistan locally produces just half amillion tonnes (450,000 tonnes from cottonseeds and 50,000 tonnes from sunflower andmustard. The country is importing edible oilworth Rs300 billion annually to meet thelocal demand.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

T HOUGH the market participantsare pinning hope in the sECP-backed tax reforms recentlyapproved by the Ministry of

Finance, the years-old negativescontinue to take a heavy toll on themarket participants at thevolumes-starved Karachibourse. The fact that thecurrent month,February, alonesaw the frontregulators at KsE;notifying theshareholders aboutthe proposed or finaldelisting of at least 50listed companies isindicative of this.It was just 13 days backwhen KsE managementhad conveyed to thestakeholders at KsE thatsome 29 companies, mostly from textilesector, were faced with delisting fortheir default on various listingregulations ranging from non-holdingof the Annual General Meetings(AGMs) to non-payment of the listingfee. Almal securities and servicesLimited, Dominion stock Fund, HarumTextile Mills, Investec securities,Kashmir Polytex, Nina Industries,Pakistan Industrial and CommercialLeasing, sahrish Textile Mills, UsmanTextile Mills, Union InsuranceCompany of Pakistan, DadabhoyInsurance Company, First IslamicModaraba, Ittefaq General InsuranceCompany, Ittefaq Textile Mills,Macdonald Layton and Co, MianMuhammad sugar Mills and ZahurTextile Mills, were the 17 companiesthat received final KsE notices on

delisting.In addition, 12 other

firms were given a 30-daydeadline, which would end on the 12thof next month, to get their defaultsrectified or brace for punitive action bythe front and apex regulators. Theseinclude Accord Textile Limited, Al-AzharTextile Mills, Al-Qaim Textile Mills,Amin spinning Mills, Fawad TextileMills, Hashmi Can Company, IndusFruit Products, Libaas Textile, MubarakDairies Limited, shahpur Textile Mills,Zahur Cotton Mills and Amz VenturesLimited. The market participants,including members, brokers, investors,listed companies, etc, can often be foundcomplaining that the stocks market,plagued by ill-thought-out tax andregulatory regimes, was no more anattractive place for doing business in theabsence of trading volumes that perhapspartly enable the listed firms to pay theExchange related fees, including that ofthe listing. Thursday again witnessedKsE declaring that some 21 companies

either liquidating or liquidators hadbeen appointed to get them liquidated.The trade in their shares had alreadybeen suspended. These firms, includeAdil Polypropylene Products, Awan

Textile Mills, Bahawalpur TextileMills, Bela Engineers,Colony Woolen Mills,Crescent spinningMills, First TawakkalModaraba, HarnaiWoolen Mills,Junaid CottonMills, Karim silkMills, KausarPaints, ModernTextile Mills,Muslim Ghee

Mills, Pak FiberIndustries,

Pakistan Dairies Limited, Qayyumspinning Limited, saltex spinningMills, sind Alkalls Limited, TariqCotton Mills, Tawakkal Limited andTri-star shipping Lines. “TheExchange in the interest of investors’protection and in pursuance of theListing Regulations Number 30(1) (d)and Number 30(4) intend to now de-list these companies,” said a noticeissued by KsE Thursday. The regulatorhas, through notice number KsE/N-762, asked the liquidators and theconcerned firms to come with theirobjection, if any, in line with theproposed liquidation of these firms.Now while the federal government hasconsented to rationalise thecontroversial Capital Gains Tax andthe market observers have startedforeseeing encouraging increase intrading volumes, the marketparticipants, on each and every level,would have to bear the burnt of thepast mistakes made by themanagements, as well as regulators ofthe local stocks.

Over 5,000 oiltankers to stop upcountry supplyg Countrywide protest if demands not met within 72 hours

KSE Dilemma

Friday, 24 February, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

As agreed between thePresidents of Pakistan andIran, the former will exportwheat to Iran which will be

value-added in Tehran. Trade will bemaintained between the private sectors. This was informed by the visiting DeputyMinister Industry, Mines and Trade,Government of Iran andChairman/Managing Director ofGovernmental Trading Corporation ofIran, Abbas Ghobadi, while addressinga meeting at Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (KCCI) hereon Wednesday. He said theindigenous wheat produced in Iranwas fulfilling the demands and thefactories of Iran had the capacity toprocess 25 million tonnes ofwheat. Export of othercommodities and products arealso in consideration.Reciprocating the import ofwheat, Iran and export energy toPakistan, he said. Ministeragreed to the proposals ofPresident KCCI for jointventures in agricultural sectorand informed that efforts

were underway to establish bankingchannel and execute commercialactivities between the ports of ImanKhomeni, Bunder Abbas and Karachi.Besides that Iran was maintaining bartertrade with India and China trade andlikewise, through barter system thebilateral relations between Iran-Pakistanwill be enhanced.Iranian companies had good businessrelations with their Us counterpartsand there was a negativepropaganda by the

media aboutIran-Us

relations. Heemphasised for vibrant

chamber-to-chamber interactions fromboth sides. Ghobadi, highlighted thehistorical relations of Iran and Pakistanand stated that the recent visit ofPresident Ahmadinejad to meet hiscounterpart endorses the importance thatthe Iranian government attaches toPakistan. He appreciated the role of Iran-Pakistan embassies and consulategenerals in respective countries to upliftthe trade and strengthen the economiccooperation as the missions werecommitted to implement the bilateralagreements existing between two

countries. He said Iran had relationswith 160 countries particularly economic

relations with EU, UK, Canadaand Central Asian states. He was

of the view that both countries hadenergetic relations, however,economic relations need to be

more fostered. He said securityissues need to be addressed to

increase trade. Iran alreadymaintaining trade with Us and

EU was focusing on regionaltrade particularly withPakistan and Central Asian

republics. On the occasion, Mian AbrarAhmad, President KCCI also assertedupon the dire need of establishingbanking channels, port-to-port activities

and customs clearance mechanismbetween Iran and Pakistan. He urged todevelop regional trading block of ECOcountries, particularly between Pakistan,Iran and Turkey. He said the biasedpolicies of UsA and West never allowedeconomic independence to Pakistan asallowed to other countries in the region.He articulated to build trading blockswith sAARC countries, Central Asianrepublics, particularly between Iran andPakistan. He proposed trade betweenPakistan and Iran should be permitted inlocal currencies instead of dollars andtrade through railways should beregularised.He was of the view that Pakistan hasbeen severely discriminated by West andas an energy-hungry country we shouldnot accept any dictation on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline projectwhich is the burning need for ourcountry to overcome the energy crisis.He said, “Resolution passed in the Ushas proved that Baluchistan had beenfacing engineered situation of unresthaving its roots abroad. The West neverliked Gwadar port ever since it wasestablished.” He opined, “Iran andPakistan should jointly address thisissue because Western interference inBaluchistan may create territorial

security issues for both Muslimneighbouring countries.” He said the keysolution for economic stability ofPakistan is regional trade with sAARC,ECO, AsEAN, GCC and Central AsianCountries. Pakistan was facing Non-Tariff Barriers to export in terms ofrestricted market access from UsA andWest, he added.If market access is allowed, Pakistan canexport worth $25 billion to UsA alone, hemaintained. He highlighted the existingtremendous potential for bilateral tradeand identified possibilities of jointventures in value-added agriculturalsector and engineering sector. Toenhance bilateral economic andcommercial cooperation, he voiced toestablish banking channel as the businesstransactions between Iran and Pakistanwas routed through Asian Clearing Unionwhich was more time-consuming than anormal letter of credit (LC), whileopening a LC through Iran’s sistercompanies in Dubai also adds to cost. Heappreciated Pak-Iran trade during lasthalf decade which increased from $389million to $1.2 billion and alsoemphasised to deepen the existingPreferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to befollowed by Free Trade Agreement (FTA).Chairman Businessmen Group sirajKassam Teli said the meeting ofPresident Ahmedinejad with PresidentZardari was an important move tostrengthen ties. He appreciated theefforts of Iranian Consul General inKarachi to enhance trade.

Pakistan to export wheat to Iran

PRO 24-02-2012_Layout 1 2/24/2012 12:25 AM Page 1

news02Friday, 24 February, 2012

PHMA perplexed by SRO 821(I) LAHORE: Pakistan Hardware Merchants Association(PHMA) Thursday urged the Federal Board of Revenueto give logic for implementation of much controversialsRO 821(I) 2011 as business community considers thissRO unjustified and illogical. speaking a videoconference with Central Vice Chairman PHMA TariqRasheed, Zonal Chairman sheikh Ahmad Daud andother zonal offices, the Central Chairman of PakistanHardware Merchants Association sardar Usman Ghanisaid the sRO would not be doing any service to theFederal Board of Revenue (FBR) rather it would furthertighten noose around the registered tax payers only. Hesaid sRO 821(I) 2011 will have devastating effect on thebusinesses in Pakistan as the compulsory requirementof NTN or CNIC number of each and every purchaser orseller is practically almost impossible. STAFF REPORT

Dollar reserves shrink by $123mKARACHI: The country’s liquid foreign exchangereserves declined by 0.7 per cent or $123 million duringthe week that ended on February 17, the central bankreported Thursday. According to state Bank, during theweek under review, the country’s dollar reserves stoodat $16.645 billion compared to $16.768 billion of theprevious week. The central bank’s dollar reserves, asusual, moved downward and slid by $74 million to$12.212 billion against the previous week’s $12.286billion. The reserves of the commercial banks alsoremained downward at $4.433 billion from $4.482billion a week earlier. The analysts and sBP attributecontraction in sBP’s exchange reserves to increasedimport payments and repayment of the country’sexternal debts that, according to central bank, haveaggregated to over $60 billion. STAFF REPORT

LCCI asks govt to restructure OGRALAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) has demanded of the government to restructurethe Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and giveat least 50 per cent representation to private sector.While coming hard on the OGRA who is all set tofurther jack-up petroleum prices, LCCI President IrfanQaiser sheikh said that OGRA should protect theinterests of the stakeholders but it is doing the otherway round. LCCI President also urged the governmentto cut the number of taxes on petroleum products as thefuel is considered the engine of growth. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan to host Islamic funds conference LAHORE: The financial world is banking upon theIslamic Finance and shariah Compliant InvestmentFunds, in the backdrop of the current global financialcrisis, which in turn is bringing a boost to the IslamicFunds and sukuks. Considering the healthy global growthin this sector, an International Conference is beingorganised on April 23, 2012 in Karachi in order tostrengthen the Islamic finance sector in Pakistan.Research papers will be presented and productivediscussions will be undertaken to highlight the role ofPakistan in the global Islamic finance market. Islamicfinance is making healthy growth in Pakistan which nowstands over 1,000 Islamic banking branches from fiveIslamic Banks and 13 Conventional Banks with Islamicfinance operations. In addition, we have good supportfrom 05 Takaful Companies, Mudarabah Companies, 20Islamic Microfinance Institutions, over 30 sukuk issuesand 15 fund managers have launched their Islamic funds,which have made prominent role of Pakistan in the globalIslamic finance canvas. STAFF REPORT

CACCI hails govt’s firm stance on IP pipelineLAHORE: Pak-Iran Business Council Chairman andVice President of the Confederation of Asia PacificChambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) Tariqsayeed has fervidly hailed Asif Ali Zardari, President ofPakistan for his bold statement that ties with Iran won’tbe undermined by pressure of any kind, describing it asa right approach for building amicable and profoundrelationship with neighbouring countries. In a pressstatement, Tariq sayeed who is also the formerPresident of FPCCI and the Founder and FormerPresident of sAARC CCI said the business communityof Pakistan strongly endorsed the view of PresidentZardari. He added this decision will not only give boostto the morale of the country but also help overcomeshortage of energy through the faster implementation ofPak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project, which has becomeindispensable for sustainable economic growth. “Projectlike Pak-Iran gas pipeline are crucial for forging deepalliances between two countries” said sayeed and addedthat by taking such a bold initiative, President Zardarihas given a clear-cut message to the World that as asovereign nation the Government had the courage totake unbiased and realistic measures, which should alsobe respected by other nations. sayeed also appreciatedthe leadership of the both countries for setting thetarget of bilateral trade to the tune of $5 billion, statingit as a positive reflection of the policy of the governmentunder the leadership of Mr Zardari, which an importantstep forward to further improve bilateral relations withneighboring countries. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE trade between Pak-istan and Iran may go up inthe near future as the twocountries seem to be seri-

ously moving forward to increase bi-lateral trade. The Iranian governmenthas indicated that Iranian preferencewas Pakistani products like rice, wheatand others commodities and the prob-lems faced by Pakistani exporterswhile exporting goods to Tehranwould be resolved soon.

These were expressed by MrGhobadi, Deputy Commerce Ministerof Islamic Republic of Iran in a meetingwith secretary Trade Development Au-thority of Pakistan, Javed Anwar Khan,along with leading exporters of rice andwheat here on the side line of the trilat-eral meetings of the heads of states

of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, hereon Thursday. safdar Mehkri, ViceChairman REAP and Zahid WKhawaja, Member Executive Commit-tee REAP highlighted the potential ofPakistan’s export surplus of rice andidentified the hurdles faced by their ex-porters while doing business with theirIranian counterparts.

secretary TDAP welcomed thehonorable guest and introduced theofficers of TDAP and exporters ofrice and wheat.

The exporters requested theIranian Deputy Commerce Ministerto give preferential treatment to Pak-istan’s rice by extending a zero im-port duty regime for rice importfrom Pakistan under already signedPTA with any future change to it onlyafter mutual agreement.

The trade also suggested for al-lowing rice import from Pakistan as a

fellow ECO member country by issu-ing Import Permit to all interestedrice importers in Iran without any re-strictions. The representatives ofREAP also requested for the removalof requirement of Mujawaz. The tradesupported the idea of Pak–Iran cur-rency swap for the better trade rela-tion between the two countries.

Abdul Kaleem Baakza of WheatTraders Association of Pakistan ap-praised the Deputy Iranian Com-merce Minister about the qualityof Pakistan’s rice and the availabilitywheat surplus in the country. He re-quested the Iranian government tofacilitate the wheat exporters of Pak-istan by removing administrativehurdles confronted by the sectors.

The Iranian Deputy CommerceMinister viewed the relationship be-tween two brethren Islamic coun-tries could go a long way in the

presence of good railway, road andsea link. He ensured the exportersthat Iranian preference is Pakistanirice and the problems identified byREAP members will be resolved.

Referring to the import of wheat,he highlighted Iranian market isquality conscious and import ofwheat will depend upon acceptabilityby their consumers. He advised thewheat traders to nominate a focalperson for follow up meeting on theimport of wheat to be held on Febru-ary 24, 2012.

He indicated the volume of tradebetween Pakistan and Iran would in-crease up to $10 bn and the outcomeof this meeting would help in formu-lating appropriate trade policy forensuring sustainable trade betweenthe countries. The meeting was fol-lowed by informal talks between ex-porters and Iranian delegates.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

GOVERNMENT hasplanned to expandsuppliers base of thetraceable products from

the existing level of 20 to 250 in2012 for which an incentive packageof Rs2.024 billion has beenallocated to introduce traceability inagricultural and livestock products.Projecting of Pakistan with 20 fullytraceable agricultural and livestockproducts at Germany is historicachievement of Punjab government.This was stated by Minister forAgriculture, Punjab Malik AhmedAli Aulakh here at AgricultureHouse, Lahore. He was addressinga post IGW briefing about successstories, the lessons learnt and theway forward for prospects ofexports of Agriculture and Livestockproducts. secretary AgriculturePunjab, Mr Muhammad MushtaqAhmed, CEO star Farm, Asia, MrHans Peter, high officials ofAgriculture department, largenumber of exhibitors, farmers andrepresentatives of print andelectronic media were also present.Talking to media men, Ahmed AliAulakh said that and participationof Punjab in International GreenWeek (IGW) at Germany has not

only helped in improving soft imageof Pakistan but has introduced it asan emerging country for supply oftraceable products for the world tomeet food supply demand of everincreasing global population. Hesaid that Punjab government hasdiverted substantial resources todevelop science-based, vibrant andinternationally linked agriculturesector that can not only meet thefood security challenges but alsocompete in domestic as well as ininternational markets. Punjabgovernment has entered intocertification regime to produce fullytraceable agricultural and livestockproducts to reach high end marketsof the developed world and toenhance export up to $2billionannually, he added. He said thatPakistan has the potential tobecome one of the largesteconomies of the world afterGermany. He further apprised thatPunjab government has allocatedRs2.024 billion for a mega projectto improve supply chain of selectedagricultural and livestock productsfor improving quality andintroducing traceability as perinternational market standards andrequirements.secretary Agriculture Punjab, MrMuhammad Mushtaq Ahmed, saidthat participation of Punjab in

International Green Week (IGW),at Berlin Germany proved amilestone to showcase traceableagricultural and livestock productsfrom Punjab and to projectPakistan. He further said thatdisplay of traceable agriculturaland livestock products at IGW hasopened the doors of high endmarkets of the world leadingtowards generation of tremendousbusiness opportunities forPakistan. He told that Punjabgovernment provided space to theprivate sector/ exhibitors toshowcase their products at thePunjab’s pavilion where thousandsof visitors tasted and witnessedtraceable products from Punjab.He told that rice dishes withtraceable vegetables were alsooffered to the hundreds of the stallvisitors every day. He further toldthat during the IGW, severaldignitaries like Mrs Kopp, memberGerman parliament, CEO Metro,DG Global Gap, and Directors ofIFs and Bayer crop sciences alsovisited stall of Pakistan. All thevisitors appreciated efforts ofPakistan to produce traceableproducts which will help enhancetrade with the EU countries.Responding to a question he saidthat markets like Metro, havingover 2,000 stores and Carrefour

having about 15,000 stores in EUcountries showed special interestin Pakistani products. Metro haseven offered free office space forthe association of traceablesuppliers. Responding to anotherquestion, secretary Agriculturesaid that two sales teams wereconstitute for marketing oftraceable products from Pakistan,which no other country has in theworld as of today. Each sales teamcomprised of a member fromgovernment, one member fromstar Farm and three to fourmembers from the exhibitors. Oneteam under the leadership of MrMohammad Ashraf, CommercialCouncilor of Pakistan inAmsterdam visited severalmarkets in Holland. The secondteam under the leader ship of MrHamed Yaqoob sheikh, secretaryL&DD Department visited Franceand spain. Both the teams heldvery useful talks with high endmarkets who agreed to buyPakistani products. Few of theexhibitors were able to struckdeals on spot. He told that boththe sales teams has developedcontacts with the markets in thesecountries and obtained samples oftraceable products for evaluationbefore procuring these fromPakistani suppliers.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE payment systemsinfrastructure inPakistan showed anupward growth

trend during the second quar-ter of the current fiscal year,Oct-Dec FY12, shows the stateBank of Pakistan’s Paymentsystems Quarterly Review forthe second quarter of FY12 re-leased Thursday. According tothe review, the volume of over-all e-banking transactions inthe country during review pe-riod registered an increase of2.6 per cent to reach 66.96 mil-lion. The value of these trans-actions also depicted a growthof 4.85 per cent to reachRs6,454 billion as compared tothe preceding quarter, July-sept FY2011, it added.

It said the number of RealTime Online Branches(RTOB) transactions in-creased by 3.4 per cent to20.26 million, whereas, thevalue of these transactions in-

creased by 4.8 per cent toRs5,968 billion in the quarterunder review as compared tothe previous quarter, whichrepresented almost 30 percent in volume and 93 per centin value of the overall e-bank-ing transactions, respectively.

The review said 1,020more bank branches were up-graded to RTOB in Oct-Dec,2011 period mainly due tohigher investments by a publicsector bank. ‘Now 8,905 bankbranches are offering RTOBservices out of the total of 9,948bank branches across country,’it added. some 91 more Auto-mated Teller Machines (ATMs)were added during Oct-Dec,2011 quarter bringing the totalnumber of ATMs in the countryto 5,409, the review said,adding the number of ATMtransactions showed an in-crease of 3.22 per cent to reach40.05 million and the value ofthese transactions increased by8.33 per cent to Rs383 billion,resulting in an average value ofRs9,558 per ATM transaction.

The share of ATM transac-tions in total e-banking trans-actions in terms of volume andvalue worked out to 59.8 percent and 5.9 per cent, respec-tively, it added. The number ofplastic cards also increased by4.88 per cent during the quar-ter under review as comparedto the preceding quarter, thereview said, adding that by theend of quarter, there were 15.2million plastic cards in circula-tion in the country.

The volume and value oftransactions through Point ofsale (POs) terminals stood at4.2 million and Rs19.6 billion,showing 1.4 and 8.6 per centgrowth, respectively, as com-pared to the figures reportedin the previous quarter, the re-view added. According to thereview, the volume of large-value payments through RealTime Gross settlement sys-tem (RTGs) increased by 2.8per cent to 89,263, whereas,the value of these transactionsincreased by 21.4 per cent toRs30.47 trillion.

Financing of Margin TradingSystem balloons to Rs877m

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

THE acceptance of sECP’s tax reform propos-als by the Ministry of Finance has auguredwell for the local stocks market which, ac-

cording to analysts, generated a small rally of fiveper cent during the last few trading sessions. Withthe open interest increasing to the tune of Rs877million up to Wednesday in the Margin Trading sys-tem (MTs), Karachi stock Exchange (KsE), in linewith regional markets, has so far rallied 11.1 percent, 10.0 per cent in dollar terms, during the cur-rent calendar year. “The most interesting thing ofthe current run up in share prices is that it is accom-panied by decent volumes,” said Mohammed sohail,senior Analyst and Chief Executive Officer ofTopline securities. Compared to the last quarter av-erage daily volumes of 59.7 million shares, Rs2.8 bil-lion or $32.2 million, the average daily volumes atKsE in this quarter up till now was 119.0 millionshares, which account for Rs3.7 billion or $41.0 mil-lion. “Though volumes have improved it is far lowerthan average daily of approximately 300 million,Rs24.8 billion or $417.5 million seen in 2003-07,”the analyst said. As a consequence of rising shareprices with better volumes, he said, the leveragedpositions in MTs and futures had also increased.Though not at alarming levels so far and far lowerthan what it used to be in the past, these MTs vol-umes might make the share price of actively-tradedstocks slightly more volatile in the short run.

Pak-Iran trade volume to go up by $10b

E-banking transactions jump to Rs6.454tnduring July-Sept FY2012: SBP Report

Govt vying to expand traceable products’ supplier base

PRO 24-02-2012_Layout 1 2/24/2012 12:25 AM Page 2

news

Friday, 24 February, 2012

03Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change TurnoverUnilever Pak Foods 1700.00 1777.95 1750.00 1776.23 76.23 413Colgate Palmolive 750.00 786.00 750.00 784.80 34.80 334Nestle PakistanXD 3280.36 3323.50 3300.00 3315.00 34.64 129Wyeth Pak Limited 754.87 792.61 756.00 786.84 31.97 3,377Millat Tractors Ltd. 459.17 479.00 463.50 475.60 16.43 54,311

Major Losers

UniLever Pak Ltd. 5601.20 5690.00 5550.00 5555.00 -46.20 8Shezan Inter. 116.38 118.00 111.00 111.52 -4.86 4,419MCB Bank Ltd 177.72 178.10 172.50 173.26 -4.46 641,193Oil & Gas Develop 166.22 166.80 162.25 162.69 -3.53 509,598Attock Petroleum 452.78 458.00 444.00 449.70 -3.08 45,967

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 9.75 10.73 9.24 10.37 0.62 41,019,558Azgard Nine 7.11 7.70 6.75 7.45 0.34 18,159,348Fatima Fert.Co. 24.00 24.47 23.66 23.84 -0.16 10,018,773Pace (Pak) Ltd. 2.16 2.46 2.19 2.27 0.11 10,007,552B.O.Punjab 8.40 8.80 8.20 8.28 -0.12 6,793,770

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.8021UK Pound 142.6137Japanese Yen 1.1335Euro 121.0301

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.50 91.00

Euro 119.85 121.18

Great Britain Pound 141.66 143.16

Japanese Yen 1.1213 1.1327

Canadian Dollar 90.04 91.58

Hong Kong Dollar 11.47 11.74

UAE Dirham 24.60 24.82

Saudi Riyal 24.10 24.29

Australian Dollar 96.03 98.59

Bear hug drains KSE of 88pts under profit-taking cloudKARACHI

STAFF REPORT

K ARACHI stocks market endedbearish on Thursday becauseof, what the market observers

said, institutional profit-taking amidlower trading volumes.

The day saw the benchmark 100-share index finishing dipping by 87.75points to 12,515.92 points against12,603.67 points of Wednesday. “KsE100 index corrects itself for shortterm,” viewed Abdul Azeem, an ana-lyst at InvestCap. The analyst said thebenchmark failed to attract furtherbuying interest as it attracted sellingpressure below pivot. “The index keptrolling down once it touched the re-sistance level of 12,624 points level, asexpected,” reviewed Abdul Azeem.The trading volumes at the ready-counter slid to 178.045 million shares

from the previous day’s 272.371 mil-lion shares. The trading value also de-clined and finished at Rs3.549 billionagainst Rs5.384 billion of the last ses-sion. The index hit the intraday highand low of 12,623.88 and 12,499.81points, respectively.

The market capital also slid toRs3.263 trillion from the previous

Rs3.286 trillion. Of the total 347traded scrips, 112 gained, 160 lostand 75 remained unchanged. Ja-hangir siddiqui Company appearedas a volume leader with 41.019 mil-lion of its shares traded at Rs9.75 inthe opening and Rs10.37 in closingof the market. The future marketalso came down in terms of turnover

that declined to 11.643 millionshares from 13.94 million shares oflast session. “(The) stocks closedbearish on institutional profit-takingwith lower trades after OGDC an-nounced half year earnings an-nouncements aligned withexpectations,” viewed AshenMehanti of Arif Habib securities.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

A consortium of financial institutions ledby United Bank Limited (UBL) is ac-quiring 67.4 per cent shares of Khush-hali Bank Limited (KBL), it emergedThursday. The consortium, which com-

prises of UBL, Rural Impulse Fund II sA sICAV-FIs, shoreCap II Limited, AsN-NOVIB Microcreditfunds and Credit suisse Microfinance Fund Man-agement Company, has been declared as the high-est bidder by the shareholding banks who would beselling 67.4 per cent of KBL stakes.

Prominent among the banks selling, KLB sharesare National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), MCB Bank

Limited, summit Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limitedand KAsB Bank Limited. These banks, respectively,sold 23.5, 17.6, 0.6, 11.73 and 0.59 per cent of sharesthey held in KBL, a microfinance institution. Aftercompletion of the acquisition process, UBL’s directshareholding in KBL would, approximately, become29.7 per cent. The selling banks have accepted theconsortium’s bid of Rs20.44 per share, approxi-mately, and have issued a Letter of Acceptance to theacquiring consortium. The banker’s view this acqui-sition of KBL by UBL’s consortium as a move in the“right direction”. Khushhali Bank, the bankers said,was long suffering from lack of active and efficientmanagement. “KBL is going into the right handsnow,” commented an executive from one of the sellingbanks. The two sides, the sellers and acquirers, have

notified the development to the managements ofcountry’s three stock exchanges in Karachi, Lahoreand Islamabad. Also, UBL has notified the same to itscustodian in the Citibank as well as the London stockExchange. The consummation of the acquisition,however, would require the two sides seek regulatoryapprovals from the state Bank of Pakistan and Com-petition Commission of Pakistan. Also, a successfulexecution of the share Purchase Agreement would berequired. In UBL’s consortium, the Rural ImpulseFund II sA sICAV-FIs is represented in Pakistan byIncofin Investment Management Comm VA, shore-Cap II Ltd by Equator Capital Partners LLC), AsN-NOVIB Microkredietfonds by Triple Jump BV andCredit suisse Microfinance Fund Management Com-pany by Responsibility Global Microfinance Fund.

CORPORATE CORNERTourism Malaysiafocuses on Pakistan

KARACHI: In 2001 Pakistan accountedfor a mere 15768 arrivals into Malaysia.As a result, this market was notconsidered to be an important sourcemarket for tourists to Malaysia.However, over the past few years thearrival numbers have really picked up andwere recorded at 65101 in 2010(amounting to a growth of over 400 percent) over the last decade. In 2011 thisnumber stood at a very impressive growthover the year. Most of this growth hasbeen a result of family travellers as theaverage tourist from Pakistan wants toexplore the world. PRESS RELEASE

Ufone offersSMS Backup serviceIsLAMABAD: Ufone, one of the leadingtelecom companies in the country hasrecently launched a phenomenal one of itskind offer which allows its subscribers to savetheir messages for an indefinite period.Ufone has been the market leader inintroducing industry first offers whichcommit to the needs of its valued customers.Ufone sMs Backup is a simple and effectiveway to save messages. The subscribers simplyhave to create an sMs Backup account bysending sUB 3838 or forwarding the sMsthey want to save to 3838 for Rs0.01+Tax/sMs. After subscribing a password will begenerated through which the user can loginto their sMs Backup account onhttp://smsbackup. ufone.com. All the backedup sMs can be viewed on the subscribers

web account. PRESS RELEASE

LUMS faculty participatesat Karachi Literature FestivalKARACHI: Launched in 2010, theKarachi Literature Festival (KLF) is fastbecoming an important congress forwriters from all over the world. This yearfaculty members from LUMs activelyparticipated at the KLF held from February11-12, 2012. Rasul Baksh Rais, syedNomanul Haq, Ayesha Jalal, PervezHoodbhoy, Bilal Tanweer, MohammadWaseem and Adiah Afraz shared their workand spoke at the various session held at thefestival. The keynote address, this year, wasdelivered by the acclaimed writer andhistorian, William Dalrymple. PRESS RELEASE

Nokia, Djuice mentorPakistan’s future developersKARACHI: February 23, 2012: With a visionto cater to students with a knack for mobileapp development at a university level, NokiaPakistan and Djuice conducted a DeveloperWorkshop at NED University which focusedon imparting training to students on s40devices. It was for the first time that NokiaPakistan conducted a developer workshopsolely for students at a university. The venuefor the workshop was Computer andInformation systems EngineeringDepartment where the trainer syed FarazAhmed from Lakson Business solutionsshared details of the development toolsavailable to develop mobile apps for s40devices and gave hands-on training toparticipants. PRESS RELEASE

MD-PSO unveilsthe future for PSOKARACHI: Having recently taken over thereins at Pakistan state Oil (PsO), the nation’sleading oil marketing company, the new MDand CEO, Mr Naeem Yahya Mir unveiled hisvision for the state owned company in ameeting with the senior management. Duringthis briefing, the MD and CEO, PsO resolved

to face all challenges and take the company tonew heights in the coming years. He apprisedthe senior cadre of his plans to make PsO thebest company in Pakistan within the next twoyears. He also outlined his dream to makePsO a regional player in the next four yearsand one of the Fortune 500 companies in notmore than six years. PRESS RELEASE

Turks rememberflood effectedLAHORE: A six member Turkish businessdelegation visited the flood affected of BastiKhojanianwala, a place 40 away fromMuzaffar Garh. The delegation distributedfood items flour, sugar and other relief itemsamongst the 1500 last year affected families.They also distributed the toys and giftsamongst the children. The delegation is inPakistan on their four day long visit. On thelast day, they met the Chief Minister Punjab,Mian Muhammad shahbaz sharif anddiscussed the ways to boost up the trade,business and development of both brotherlycountries of Pakistan and Turkey. It is worthmentioning here that the people and thegovernment of Turkey helped a lot to theearthquake and flood affected of Pakistan.Millions Dollars aid and relief items weredistributed. Rehablitation works of last yearflood affected is also being carried evennowadays. A lot of model villages are beingconstructed in these areas. PRESS RELEASE

USAID awards 20 grants forresearch in teacher educationMANSEHRA: The UsAID TeacherEducation Project (Pre-sTEP) organised acheque distribution ceremony at theHazara University Mansehra, KPK. Theevent was attended by representatives ofthe UsAID Teacher Education Project,Vice Chancellor Dr sakhawat shah andfaculties of Education Hazara University.Mr Kamran Iftikhar Lone, representativeof the UsAID Teacher Education Project,presented the Vice Chancellor HazaraUniversity, Dr sakhawat shah with acheque amounting to Rs208,159 as firstinstallment. A total of Rs1 million will be

disbursed in one year and this amountwill be used to conduct research into thePedagogical Practices of TeacherEducators in Bachelors of Education (B.Ed) Honours Elementary and AssociateDegree in Education (ADE) Programs.The grant was awarded after a rigorousreview process, conducted by theResearch Evaluation and AdvisoryCommittee (REAC), led by the HigherEducation Commission (HEC). REACcomprises representatives of the HigherEducation Commission and experiencededucation researchers working inPakistan and overseas. PRESS RELEASE

ISLAMABAD: Momin Imran (C) who won theprestigious “Cassini Scientist for a day” EssayContest is receiving an award from Mr Khurram Noor(1st L) and Mr Haji Muhammad Rafiq Giga (2nd L) –Director Emaar Pakistan while Mrs Anna Faisal (2nd R)and Ms Aliya Asim (1st R), Branch Head – Roots EmaarCanyon Views are also present. PRESS RELEASE

UBL bids lowest to acquire 67.4pc KBL shares

KARACHI: Meezan Bank has been awarded ‘Best IslamicBank in Pakistan’ for 2011 by Islamic Finance News ofRED money Group, Malaysia. Picture shows Mr ShabbirHamza Khandwala, Chief Financial Officer – MeezanBank, receiving the award at the award distributionceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PRESS RELEASE

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