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Bears return to end bull rule, indextakes a 79pt plunge Page 03

Thursday, 08 March, 2012

KARACHI

JAVED MAHMOOD

PAkISTAN’S Ambassadorto United Arab emiratesJamil Ahmed khan saidUAe was willing to startits khalifa refinery Proj-

ect in Pakistan, involving a hugeamount of $6 billion investment.

“The project was lingering ondue to different reasons, but in a re-cent Joint Ministerial Commission(JMC) of Pakistan and United Arabemirates (UAe) in Dubai, UAe hasexpressed its willingness to startwork on this mega project,” Jamilkhan said while talking to seniorjournalists and FPCCI representa-tives at Federation House onwednesday. khan gave a compre-hensive presentation to FPCCI rep-resentatives about potential oftrade and investment in UAe andprogress relating to recent meetingof Pak-UAe Joint Minister Com-mission (JMC).

He said establishment of a 500-Mw power project was also part ofthe khalifa refinery Project.

According to history of the proj-ect, the proposed khalifa Coastalrefinery will be established inkhalifa Point at Hub, Balochistan,near Gaddani coastal area. It wouldspan on 1,800 acres and will be thelargest single foreign direct invest-ment ever, if the project is materi-alised.

The project had been put onhold several times since 2007 dueto various issues, like lack of gassupply, security, poor governanceand circular debt, which has af-fected IPIC’s other investments inPakistani energy sector.

The refinery will have a capacityof 250,000 barrels per day, equal to13 million tonnes of petroleumproducts per year. The project wasapproved by the government ofPakistan in October 2007, but itcould not be initiated due to variousreasons.

Owners of the refinery willbe Pak-Arab refinery (PArCO 24per cent) and International Petro-leum Investment Company of Abu-Dhabi (IPIC 76 per cent).

Pakistan’s Ambassador to UAeJamil khan further said UAe hadalso extended its support to Pak-istan to finalise the Free TradeAgreement (FTA) with Gulf Cooper-ation Council (GCC) that wouldprove a breakthrough in Pakistan’seconomic and trade ties with GCC.GCC is a member organisation ofcountries situated in the Gulf and itis just like the european Union.

“In the upcoming third meeting,expected in April, we will try ourbest to achieve the task of signingFTA with GCC,” he added. Once weachieve this task, Pakistan will beable to increase exports to GCC.

Mr khan said Pakistan had de-manded uniformed tariff of 5 percent on exports to GCC. At present,

he said, different countries in theumbrella of GCC charge differenttariffs on exports from Pakistan,ranging up to 10 per cent, excludingadditional duty and tariff. He saidafter the signing of FTA, Pakistan isexpected to get uniform tariff andmay be lower than the existing tariffof 5 to 10 per cent.

He further pointed out that dur-ing recent JMC, Pakistan had askedUAe officials to provide multiplevisas to business for more than sixmonths period. He said UAe hadreduced the timeframe of multiplevisas from six to three months forall countries in the world, but Pak-istan had demanded relaxation inthis condition and more than sixmonths multiple visa for the busi-nessmen.

Pakistan’s ambassador to UAealso said during recent JMC thatboth countries have decided to forma joint Business Council platform to

promote their economic and tradeties. Pakistan and UAe would soonnominate 10 members each for for-mation of the council, he added.

He urged FPCCI representativesto explore trade and investment av-enues in UAe that imported about$160 billion dollars goods in 2010and exported products worth $250billion.

Quoting an international study,Mr khan said by the year 2020,trade flows between the Gulf regionand China could soar to $350 bil-lion (from $59 billion in 2005).

Meanwhile, he said, JP Morganestimates that the global liquidityhas increased by $3.9 trillion inGCC from 2002 to 2009, of whicharound 50 per cent came from Asiaand 40 per cent from the oil pro-ducers. He said there was enormouspotential of growth in trade withGCC, especially United Arab emi-rates.

UAE willing to start KhalifaRefinery Project in Pakistan

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

STANDArD & Poor’s, one of thetwo biggest global rating agen-cies, released a report on Tuesdayon the “Asia-Pacific Sovereigns,”

labelling it as “mixed outlook in an uncer-tain year”. Analyst, Agost Benard, whofollows Pakistan for S&P warns, “wecould lower the rating, if major slippagesin policy occur, resulting in renewed bal-ance-of-payments difficulties or risingpublic debt trajectory.” He asserts,“while the upside potential is currentlylimited in our assessment, we could raisethe rating if Pakistan shows progress inits fiscal consolidation efforts, evidentthrough moderating fiscal deficits and asteady reduction in public debt.”

Pakistan has been rated at B-/Sta-ble/C; T&C B-, recovery 3. The last rat-

ing/outlook change was done in Aug 24,2009, when the rating was raised to ‘B-’from ‘CCC+’ with a stable outlook. S&Psaid it continued albeit slower economicgrowth in 2012 (in the region) whichwas one reason for its stable outlook ona majority of Asia-Pacific sovereign rat-ings.However, it expected challengingglobal outlook to be complicated by do-mestic political issues in the year ahead.The rating agency covers more than 20countries in the report, including Pak-istan. In regard to his comments on Pak-istan politics, the analyst clearly needsto be updated. He cited major ‘weak-nesses’ as “Political instability and secu-rity risks.” The analyst says the“Near-term risks of major political insta-

bility have risen over the past severalmonths as a three-way tussle betweenthe judiciary, executive, and the militaryplays out. In an apparent effort to assertits independence, the Supreme Courthas indicted Prime Minister Yusuf razaGilani for contempt of court for not act-ing on a ruling to reopen corruptioncharges against incumbent PresidentAsif Ali Zardari.” And S&P analyst goeson to speculate “If the proceedings resultin Mr Gilani being forced out of office, itwould not necessarily result in the col-lapse of the government, in our view.However, already-low government effec-tiveness would weaken further, and thelikelihood of early elections, which arescheduled for 2013, would increase.”

In regard to the country’s economy,S&P analyst, Agost Benard reported thatthe pressures on balance of payments thatthe rating agency had foreshadowed earlierwere now becoming apparent, but the re-serves cushion remained adequate for thetime being. For the July–December 2011period, the current account registered adeficit of $2.4 billion, compared with a sur-plus of $8 million for the same period ayear before. while remittance rose by ahealthy 19.5 per cent year on year for theperiod, this could not offset the 32 per centexpansion of the trade deficit.

In the capital account, FDI flows de-clined further, falling 36.6 per cent in thesecond half of 2011 to just $532 million.The overall balance of payments thus

registered a deficit of $1.8 billion, com-pared with a surplus of close to $1 billiona year ago. In the year ahead, the currentaccount should get a boost from the re-cent decision by eU to allow duty free ac-cess for 75 products from Pakistan for atwo-year period. Debt service commit-ments for the one-year period from thisJanuary amounted to $2.4 billion (amor-tisation plus interest), which was a man-ageable burden against foreign reservesof $17.1 billion as of January 2012. ex-ternal liquidity thus remained adequate,but could become a pressure point in theevent of an exogenous shock or if donorinflows diminished, S&P observed andpresented its ‘Outlook’ for Pakistan: “Thestable rating outlook balances adequateexternal liquidity against vulnerabilitystemming from ongoing structural fiscalweaknesses and significant political andsecurity risk”.

g Project involves an investment of $6 billion g Pakistan demands 6-month plus multiple visa forbusinessmen g Pak-uAe Business Council to be set-up to enhance trade, investment

S&P releases report on Asia-Pacific Sovereigns

New Delhi’s decision to bancotton exports (to protect in-digenous production) and

subsequent supply contraction in theinternational market epitomises themachinations of slowing, post-reces-sion, emerging Asia. The firstspillover effect on Pakistan, consid-ering resulting price distortions, willbe a welcome bid in exports, whichshould be handled carefully, ratherthan lament violation of free marketscruples. when the bulk of the inter-national economy is in the process ofbottoming out of a severe recession,protecting comparative advantage isparamount. It is simply foolish toexpect authorities not to interfere intimes of record quantitative easing. One, India being the world’s secondlargest cotton producer and Chinathe largest importer, Delhi’s supplycrunch will push China to look foralternates. This should already haveprompted the Pakistani commerceministry to exploit a potential wind-fall opportunity. Two, ever since cot-ton prices crashed in theinternational market, following lastyear’s unprecedented price rise, Pak-istan’s trade balance has come underimmense strain. Combined with aidrollback and slowing growth, cottondepreciation was pushing Pakistan’sdeficits into very dangerous terri-tory. New demand-supply and pricedynamics might just provide someface saving. But even more importantly, the haz-ards of a narrow export basked mustalready be pretty apparent to rele-vant authorities. Just as rising pricesoften save the day for Islamabad,cyclical collapses run the risk of re-tarding the entire economic growthengine. As exports are apparentlysaved again, we must finally re-visitthe trade regime very seriously, es-pecially since our traditional exportmarkets as well as products are in-creasingly compromised. europe’sslowdown will keep meaningful ex-port increases at bay, while a Chi-nese hard landing will erode much ofthe commodity’s international mar-ket demand. we must improve man-ufacturing and industry, anddiversify our export mix. That is theonly sure way of increasing prof-itability.

QuiCk edit

Cotton, dissectinginterests andprofitability

PRO 8-03-2012_Layout 1 3/8/2012 12:09 AM Page 1

news02Thursday, 8 March, 2012

Entrepreneurs upbeat about new venturesLAHORE: In a startling survey of 100 fastest grow-ing entrepreneurial, non-listed Pakistani compa-nies, 82 per cent of these private companies plan tostart other businesses and will set up 140 new com-panies in next two years. with an accumulative$1.42 billion sales revenue in 2010 and an averageannual growth rate of 55 per cent , 41 per cent ofthe fastest growing Pakistani private companiestermed political instability biggest constraint togrowth, 38 per cent termed government regulationsand red tape, 32 per cent termed unavailability ofquality human resource, 31 per cent termed findingqualified managers, 21 per cent termedshortage/cost of long-term finance, 19 per centtermed lack of government support for smaller com-panies and 18 per cent termed shortage or cost ofworking capital the constraints for growth in thecountry. STAFF REPORT

Cement consumption stagnant since past 4 yearsLAHORE: Cement manufacturers are ruing the decisionto increase their capacities as the cement consumption re-mained stagnant in past four years while the exports arealso on constant decline forcing the sector to operate at 69per cent installed capacity. A spokesman of All PakistanCement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that itis not possible for the industry to service its high costloans carrying high interest rates by operating at low ca-pacities. “This is the reason that the non-performing loansof this capital intensive industry have exceeded 22 percent and are still rising,” he said. “During the first eightmonths of this fiscal year the industry despatched 20.5million tonne of cement recording a nominal rise of 3.48per cent against the despatches of 19.74 million tonne dur-ing the same period last year,” he added. STAFF REPORT

PM forms committee to enhance export ofgems, jewellery to $ 5.5 billion by 2017ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf raza Gilanion wednesday constituted a committee to finalise rec-ommendations to increase export of valuable gems andjewelry to $5.5 billion by 2017. Prime minister gavethese directions while chairing a meeting on the exportpromotion strategy for gems and jewellery by the Pak-istan Gems and Jewelry Development Company(PGJDC). PM directed that emphasis should be given tomanufacturing and marketing of the gems and jewelleryin the country. He constituted a committee consisting ofsecretaries of finance, commerce, productions andChairman FBr to finalise recommendations for consid-eration of economic Coordination Committee of thecabinet. STAFF REPORT

Japan extends grant aid of $ 3.7 million formedical equipmentISLAMABAD: Japan has decided to extend Non-ProjectGrant Aid (NPGA) of $3.7 million to Pakistan under whichmedical and vocational training equipment will be pro-vided to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS)and Construction Technology Training Institute (CTTI)The official notes for NPGA were signed and exchanged bythe Secretary economic Affairs Division Dr waqar Ma-sood khan and Ambassador of Japan Hiroshi Oe on behalfof their respective governments. The grant will be utilizedto import the industrial goods manufactured by corpora-tions in the hard hit disaster affected areas of Tohoku re-gion in east Japan. This will not only contribute towardsthe improvement of medical services and human resourcedevelopment in Pakistan but will also support local econ-omy of east Japan, which was heavily affected by the un-precedented earthquake and tsunami in 2011. STAFF REPORT

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THe lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Indus-try wednesday outlinedkey priorities for budget2012-13 calling for an

immediate government attentionon a number of challenges facingthe economy. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh,President lCCI, urged the govern-ment to focus on investing in energysolutions and enforcement of lawand order while lowering of tariffson smuggling prone items, increas-ing the share of direct taxes in rev-enue and lowering the slab ofindirect taxes in the forthcomingbudget to achieve key economic tar-gets set for the year 2012-13.

In order to tackle energy short-ages, the lCCI president said, thegovernment would have to allocatemaximum funds for construction ofdams/water reservoirs, tapping ofThar Coal, completion of Iran-Pak-istan gas pipeline and establishmentof lNG terminals. The lCCI Presi-dent said that sufficient fundsshould be allocated in the forthcom-ing budget for Dasu power project,Diamer Bhasha dam, Munda dam,Gomal Zam, Satpara power projectand kurram Tungi dam. He said that

at least rs. 200 billion or 10 per centof the total budget should be allo-cated for hydel power projects. IrfanQaiser Sheikh said that the country’sreliance on costly thermal power isjacking up the cost of productionand import bill. The country needsan urgent shift in its energy-mix infavor of hydel power and local fuels.He said that the 175 billion tons ofThar coal reserves with a price tag of$ 13 trillion in the international mar-ket are enough to provide 100,000Mw of electricity for 100 years. Un-interrupted and affordable powersupplies can turn Pakistan into aneconomic powerhouse.

The lCCI President also hopedthat the government would earmarkfunds for the early completion ofIran-Pakistan gas pipeline and lNGterminals to keep the industrialwheel running especially in Punjabthat has borne the brunt of recentsuspension of gas supplies to indus-try in the country. On the poor thestate of law and order, the lCCIpresident said that it is hurting Pak-istan’s potential as a highly attrac-tive investment destination.Foreign and local investors are lack-ing confidence to operate in Pak-istan. He said that a number oftextile-related industrial units hadalready shifted their operation to

other countries. Therefore thebudget must be focused on improv-ing law and order situation. risingrisk perception about investing intoPakistan is hitting hard the ForeignDirect Investment (FDI) that fellsharply in recent months and needsto be tackled through a comprehen-sive policy approach by involvingChambers of Commerce in thecountry. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat the bad law and order situationwas one of the major factors keep-ing the foreign investors away.

The lCCI President feared thatthe fall in Foreign Direct Invest-ment was likely to affect adverselythe country’s economic growth.Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that all thedeveloped countries accord specialimportance to economic issues andthe challenges. But in Pakistan thesituation is the other way round andthe economy is on the bottom ofgovernment’s to-do list. The lCCIPresident said that a number of sec-tors in Pakistan including infra-structure development, coal,energy, agriculture, livestock, tex-tiles and pharmaceutical offer lu-crative investment opportunities toforeign investors but unfortunatelydue to absence required funding fora proper and well tailored market-ing strategy these opportunities are

unattended even today. It may bementioned here that Pakistan’s in-vestment rate was only 13.4 per centat end of last fiscal year, which wasthe lowest since FY74. The low sav-ing rate, coupled with wary foreigninvestors led to record low invest-ment rate in the country.

The State Bank had already re-ported in its annual report that Pak-istan had fared poorly whencompared to its neighbours in SouthAsia, because of domestic and globalfactors. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh alsourged the government to cut the rateof duties on all smuggling-proneitems in order to check smuggling ofplastic moulding compound, elec-tronics, Chemicals, fabrics and tyresand tubes. He said that direct taxesneed to be increased byimposing/enforcing taxes on in-come or all incomes should be taxedeither they are derived from manu-facturing, trading, services, importsor exports. He said that hospitals,Clinics, restaurants, Bakeries, wed-ding lawns, Travel Agents etc shouldbe brought into the tax net.

The lCCI President also sug-gested that the Sales tax slab shouldimmediately be curtailed to 10 percent from existing 16 per cent inorder to reduce inflationary pres-sures or simply to check inflation.

LCCI spells out prioritiesfor budget 2012-13

LAHROE

IMRAN ADNAN

FeDerAl Board of revenue(FBr) is likely to impose 20per cent regulatory duty on

coated duplex board and sack kraftpaper, Profit learnt on wednesday.

Sources disclosed that on the di-rection of the Prime Minister House,FBr has proposed the prime minis-ter’s advisor on finance and revenueto allow imposition of 20 per centregulatory duty on both paper prod-ucts.

Official note made available toProfit indicates that the PakistanPulp Paper and Board Mills Associa-tion (PPPBMA) submitted a represen-tation wherein it had been requestedthat regulatory duty of 20 per cent

may be levied on import of coated du-plex board and sack kraft paper forproviding the local industry a levelplaying field in the wake of cheaperimports of these products.

It shows that the PPPBMA in itsrepresentation pointed out that localmanufacturing of these items has de-creased substantially since June, 2011after removal of regulatory duty,which resulted in that the domesticindustry is fighting for its survivaldue to cheaper imports and highercost of local inputs, including elec-tricity, gas, etc.

The PPPBMA claims that manylocal manufacturers have closeddown their operations, renderinghundreds of workers jobless. Thecountry is wasting precious foreignexchange by importing huge quanti-

ties of these items, while domestic in-dustry uses indigenous raw materials.

FBr in its note pointed out thatthe annual domestic demand for sackkraft paper is 50,000 tonnes andmanufacturing capacity of local in-dustry is around 40,000 tonnes,which has drastically dropped, cater-ing only for 14 per cent of the domes-tic requirement. Presently, only onelocal manufacturer of sack kraftpaper, namely, M/S Flying kraftPaper Mills is partially operational.The remaining units have closeddown and same is issue for coated du-plex board where imports have in-creased manifold at the expense oflocal production.

Federal Board of revenue is of theview that increasing tariffs of gas andelectricity and withdrawal of regula-

tory duty in June, 2011 have pushedthe domestic industry on the verge ofclosure. For reviving the local produc-tion and substituting imports, levy ofregulatory duty on these items may becontemplated, FBr recommends.

The FBr estimates that by impos-ing regulator duty the country couldgenerate additional revenue of rs150million per month at present level ofimports.

Highlighting the historic back-ground, the FBr has indicated that 15per cent regulatory duty was imposedon import of coated duplex board andsack kraft paper in February, 2009, toprotect local industry; but was with-drawn in the same month on the rep-resentation of paper bagsmanufacturers. However, the regula-tory duty was again levied, but at the

lower rate of five per cent in June,2009 on commercial imports only.

It further highlights that in fed-eral budget 2011-12, the regulatoryduty was removed on all items exceptluxury goods. resultantly, only cus-toms duty is leviable on the statutoryrates of 15 per cent on sack kraftpaper and 25 per cent on coated du-plex board. Hence the request for levyof regulatory duty at the rate of 20per cent on these two items.

Sources disclosed that Prime Min-ister’s PSO kushnood lashari is pur-suing the case along with QamarMomin of Flying Paper Mills. FBrChairman Mumtaz Haider rizvi hasmoved the note to Finance Ministrythat might take a couple of days ingetting go ahead after which FBr willissue SrO.

FBR to impose 20pc regulatory duty on two paper products

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

eveN though Pakistan Standards andQuality Control Authority (PSQCA) haslargely remained ineffective in maintain-

ing the standards of goods in the country so far,the federal minister for Science and TechnologyMir Changez khan Jamali has claimed that theproduction/supply of sub-standards goodswould not be tolerated in any case.

Addressing the 6th meeting of Board of Di-rectors of PSQCA held at the authority’s head of-fice here on wednesday, the minister also saidthat strict laws and capital punishment wereunder consideration for the manufacturers ofcounterfeit and un-registered products.

He also categorically rejected any compro-mise on quality control issue in the country.

The federal minister informed PSQCA playedexcellent role in maintaining the standards ofnecessary goods in the domestic market. He saidthere must be only one National Authority tocheck quality control. Jamali appreciated PSQCApersonals for playing a vital role to spread theawareness among the public to know about qual-ity control culture in Pakistan. He also appreci-ated NGOs of consumer rights associationsand asked to work with PSQCA side by sidefor the benefits of common cause.

He informed standardised products shouldonly be allowed in the market. As minister, he as-sured, that he would never allow uncertified andunregistered products in the country.

The minister claimed in order to improve thequality controlling mechanism, PSQCA was alsogoing to open offices in Sialkot and Gawadar.

He directed the authority to discourage

unauthorised manufacturing and purchase ofsub standards goods and PSQCA must alsoensure that only those manufacturers whofully comply with all requirements related toquality and standards fixed by the authority,should be given the licence. He informed thatspecial attention was given in reference toimprovement in the industrial standardisa-tion and enhancement of the standard ofmanufacturing products in the country.

Director General PSQCA Pir Bakhsh khanJamali also gave the minister a formal briefing.In the briefing, he touched upon the aspects ofdeveloped and undeveloped projects, theirachievements and other relevant issues. Theminister showed keen interest in working andperformance of PSQCA and assured his full sup-port in increasing effectiveness of the authorityto achieve its assigned mandate.

Capital punishment under considerationfor violators of PSQCA rulesg Sub-standards goods not tolerable: Mir Changez Khan Jamali

PRO 8-03-2012_Layout 1 3/8/2012 12:09 AM Page 2

BOK assets increased to Rs68 billion

in 2011

PESHAWAR: Bank of khyber (BOk)’s assetsincreased by rs68 billion in 2011 showinggrowth of 35 per cent over the assets of 2010.This was disclosed by Mr Bilal Mustafa, Manag-ing Director BOk during BOk 111th Board of Di-rectors (BoD) meeting at Civil Secretariat,Peshawar. The 111th BOk BoD was chaired byMr Attaullah khan Additional Chief SecretaryGovernment of khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Chair-man BOk BoD. The Board also approved theBOk Accounts for the period ended 31st Decem-ber 2011 and appreciated the efforts of the man-agement of BOk for increasing the profitabilityof the Bank as compared to the previous years.The Board also appreciated the efforts of BOkon over all growth in all respective operationalareas. The Board was informed that during2011, BOk advanced rs22 billion, 22 per centhigher then the year 2010 which was rs18 Bil-lion, while during this period Bank postedrecord after-tax profit of rs872 Million showingincrease of 55 per cent over 2010. PRESS RElEASE

PTCL brings EVO recharge offer

back with a bang

ISlAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Com-pany ltd (PTCl) has launched an attractive win-back initiative for evO customers who can nowrecharge their evO account and enjoy a fullmonth’s usage absolutely free. The exciting win-back offer allows all evO customers who have not

recharged their pre-paid device or not paid theirevO post-paid bills since November 1, 2011, cannow recharge and get 100 per cent free balance forone full subsequent month equivalent to the cardloading/bill payment. This offer is valid for bothpre- and post-paid evO Nitro, evO wi-Fi Cloudand evO Tab customers. Furthermore, post-paidcustomers are also exempted from previous out-standing dues by paying current month’s bill, inaddition to enjoying a second month totally free ofcharge. PRESS RElEASE

Rotary Int’l holds South Asian

Countries’ Conference

NePAl: rotary International held a South AsianCountries Conference on literacy and education inNepal. rotarians and experts from South AsianCountries met and shared their thoughts to fi-nalise a programme to combat illiteracy and mak-ing education easily accessible to more people inSouth Asian countries. rotary International Direc-tor Shekhar Mehta who was also the Convener ofthe conference informed that this was an ideal op-portunity for rotary Clubs in South Asia to seekfunding partners and finalize matching grants forthe projects in the field of literacy and education.PRESS RElEASE

Emirates wins Gold “Airline of

the Year” at ATN Awards

KARACHI: emirates’ Midas touch has securedGold at the 2012 Air Transport News Awards.Adnan kazim, emirates’ Divisional Senior vicePresident, Planning and research, accepted theGold “Airline of the Year” accolade on behalf of theairline at a special ceremony held in Athens. “weare honoured to receive ATN’s Gold “Airline of theYear” award, which highlights our dedication tocustomer service and quality, both in the air and onthe ground, while proving emirates’ commitmentto excellence. Athens is an important destinationfor emirates with the long-standing tourism andbusiness relationship between the UAe and

Greece,” said Mr kazim.ATN announced the results in eight different cate-gories after collecting votes from ATN readers,many of whom hold executive positions in the airtransport industry, and the verdict of a panel of in-dustry experts. PRESS RElEASE

Qatar Executive exhibits at

Abu Dhabi Air Expo

ABU DHABI: Demonstrating its commitmentto the vibrant Middle east business aviationmarket, Qatar executive is exhibiting at theAbu Dhabi Air expo from March 6 – 8.Thethree-day event takes place at Al Bateen exec-utive Airport – the first dedicated business jetairport in the Middle east and North Africa.Qatar Airways’ corporate jet division, Qatarexecutive, is showcasing its Bombardier Chal-lenger 605 at the event, giving visitors the op-portunity to see the luxurious interiors of itspopular jet, which features the widest stand-upcabin of any business aircraft in this categoryavailable today. with its presence at the show,Qatar executive demonstrates its footprint asa major business aircraft operator in the Mid-dle east region, using this first edition of theevent to showcase its product and service port-folio to visitors.PRESS RElEASE

Nokia steals the show at MobileWorld Congress 2012

KARACHI: Nokia appeared stronger than ever atthis year’s Mobile world Congress (MwC) 2012held in Barcelona, Spain. looks like Nokia’s newstrategy has set the company in right direction andwill be doing a lot of good for the brand this year.with a new spectacular range of devices, servicesand gears to show off, Nokia proved that it has stillgot what it takes to mesmerise the audience andmake the world fall in love with the brand all overagain. Nokia introduced a range of new products,services and partnerships at MwC 2012, settingthe pace for 2012 and demonstrating rapid execu-

tion of its new strategic direction. The new strat-egy already has resulted in the adoption of win-dows Phone as Nokia’s primary smartphoneplatform, major changes to its feature phones, andadditional emphasis on location-based serviceswith the launch of its location and commerce busi-ness. PRESS RElEASE

The Enterprise launches in Lahore

LAHORE: with a vision to meet the changingneeds of the business community in lahore,The enterprise formally launched through apress meeting at the corporate landmark.Hosted by vice President of The enterprise, MrTariq Mahmood Mian, the press conferencewas addressed by Mr Muhammad Nadeemkhan, CeO of The enterprise, who talkedabout the corporate lifestyle venue and howThe enterprise furnishes a complete corporatelifestyle and aims to serve leading local and in-ternational companies by providing a smart,efficient, secure and functional businessvenue, which hosts a diversity of modern-daybusiness necessities under one roof. vice Pres-ident Mr Tariq Mahmood Mian and Directorsof The enterprise Mr Muhammad Mikail khanand Mr Muhammad Ammar khan also ad-dressed the gathering. PRESS RElEASE

news

Thursday, 8 March, 2012

03

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Colgate Palmolive 851.74 894.32 850.00 894.32 42.58 1,174Nestle PakistanXD 4169.85 4325.00 4130.00 4209.37 39.52 67Shell Pakistan 193.31 202.97 191.10 201.39 8.08 243,157Bata (Pak) Ltd 619.36 640.00 625.00 627.01 7.65 199Pak Int Con SD 131.68 138.26 135.65 138.26 6.58 57,080

Major Losers

National Refinery 271.50 272.00 263.51 265.15 -6.35 86,136UniLever Pak Ltd 5655.17 5700.00 5650.00 5650.00 -5.17 25Pak OilfieldsSPOT 389.36 389.88 384.11 384.96 -4.40 471,591Pak PetroleumXD 183.87 184.00 179.05 179.68 -4.19 233,688PSO 263.65 263.64 258.95 259.90 -3.75 228,158

Volume Leaders

Fauji Cement 4.72 5.08 4.67 5.02 0.30 31,173,434Jah Sidd Co 10.96 11.96 11.25 11.96 1.00 27,056,840Lotte PakPTA 8.99 9.78 8.95 9.36 0.37 24,989,939Azgard Nine 6.68 7.54 6.75 7.28 0.60 20,670,720Arif Habib Co SD 31.21 32.45 31.00 31.55 0.34 20,503,889

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.8841UK Pound 143.0152Japanese Yen 1.1252Euro 119.4217

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.60 91.10

Euro 118.29 119.36

Great Britain Pound 141.79 142.99

Japanese Yen 1.1124 1.1213

Canadian Dollar 89.73 91.11

Hong Kong Dollar 11.49 11.73

UAE Dirham 24.63 24.80

Saudi Riyal 24.13 24.27

Australian Dollar 94.75 97.10

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THe karachi stocksmarket witnessed abearish activity onwednesday amidhigher trades on insti-

tutional profit-taking in over-bought market after globalmarkets fall on slower economicgrowth in China and Greece debtconcerns.

“The stocks closed lower amidconsolidation in blue chip stocksafter major earning announce-ments at kSe,” viewed AshenMehanti, a director at Arif HabibSecurities. The day saw the bench-mark kSe 100-share index losing79.39 points to close at 13,244.95points against a record 13,324.34points of Tuesday.

“The index closed near sessionslows on concerns for rising govern-ment debt over and uncertain globalcommodities post major announce-ments,” said Mehnati.

The total traded shares at theready-counter were counted at318.609 million shares comparedto 250.514 million shares of the

previous session. The trading valueeased down to rs7.058 billionfrom the previous rs7.692 billion.

The market capital alsodowned to rs3.440 trillion againstrs3.454 trillion of the previousday. Of the total 363 traded scrips,181 gained, 114 lost while 68 re-mained unchanged.

The turnover in future contractsremained down and decreased to15.374 million shares from Tues-day’s 16.931 million shares. FaujiCement topped the volumes leaders’list by counting its traded shares at31.173 million shares each priced atrs4.72 in the opening and rs5.02 inthe closing.

Bears return to end bull rule,index takes a 79pt plunge

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

CHAIrMAN All PakistanTextile Mills Association(APTMA) Mohsin Aziz has

criticised India for banning exportsof cotton and termed it as againstthe international trade norms.

He said all cotton trade agree-ments, took place prior to the ex-port ban, have been held backIndian exporters and dishonouringtheir commitments.

Mohsin deplored that the In-

dian government’s trade policy wasdirected to undue favours to itstextile industry, particularly spin-ners, over the interests of farmers.Unfortunately, he said, the farmershave not been given due consider-ation in policymaking.

He said APTMA has alwaysbeen critic to any such move eitherwithin or outside the country andprefers to stick to fair play. He fur-ther said that APTMA takes cottonfarmers as backbone of industryand a partner in growth. That iswhy, he added, APTMA has never

supported intervention to freemarket mechanism even in worstcircumstances and opposed alwaysa ban on cotton export. Textile in-dustry is not as selfish as in Indiaand it takes farmers as part of theircommunity, he asserted.

Mohsin recalled that APTMAhad objected a recent move ofTrading Corporation of Pakistan,trying to procure cotton bales onwhims of a few unscrupulous ele-ments. He said APTMA objectedthe move forcefully and the gov-ernment agreed with its point of

view that a second buyer of cottonalways exists in the form of inter-national market.

He said Pakistan textile indus-try was competing in highly oddcircumstances including energycrisis, high bank mark up and slug-gish trends in the internationalmarket but still it is supportive tothe idea of free market mechanism.He said APTMA further expectsfrom regional partners and com-petitors that they would also followthe trade principle to promotehealthy competition in the region.

Chairman APTMA criticises India for banning cotton exports

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