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Bears halt bull surge, index down16.31 points Page 03

Friday, 30 March, 2012

ISlAMABAD’S newfound interest inMoscow (read Gazprom) despite USpressure against the Iran pipeline deal,

and Russia’s continued interest in financingthe pipeline even though Washington’spressure disengaged the Chinese consortiummeans the project is definitely on. And if itupsets the US, then so be it. So much hasclearly been decided in all capitals central tothe deal. That Putin’s boys went so far as toinclude tapi in the potential to-do list betraystheir overwhelming interest in committinglong-term to this region, especially sinceclumsy US policy is leaving wide vaccums forGazprom and the like to fill, and quiteprofitably at that. The Russian entry will sit pretty well withIran as well, seeing their long history ofdoing business with the Russians, not thatthe Chinese have been lesser friends. BothMoscow and Beijing have been crucial incontrolling international pressure on Iran’snuclear program, not to mention shieldingits most important strategic ally in the region– Syria – from relentless pressure for regimechange. however, this means that Pakistan’syes with Russia will also alter regionalpolitics, and to no small extent. And this brings us to Gazprom’s politics. Itsleverage and outreach make politicalconnotations inevitable. Its executives touchthe pinnacles of power, right at the centralcrossroads of high-level energy and strategicpolitics. It is little surprise that its last CeOgraduated to president of Russia for the fouryears just past. Its depth of penetration,reaching the heart of europe, has causednumerous extremely serious politicalsetbacks with much of the continent.Partnering with a beast like Gazprom willrequire prudence Pakistan has had littleexperience with, especially of late. Yet it iscrucial. At best what follows will be an idealmarriage of convenience. And at worst, afalling out that will leave Islamabad, Tehranand Moscow all worse off. For now though,most important roads lead to Russia.

COMMent

Russia then

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

The economic observersforesee the headlineinflation for FY12 settingaround 11.2 percent due

primarily to active liquiditymanagement by the central bank anda relatively improved foreignexchange reserves held by the banks.Whereas the State Bank continuesto inject billions, almost every week,in the cash-strapped bankingsystem, the economic managers aretaking comfort from a stableposition of dollar reserves,accumulating to $ 16.441 billion upto March 23, the central andcommercial banks are possessing.“(The) pressure of rupee depreciationon inflation subsided for now owingto active float management by thecentral bank and improved USDreserves lying with banks,” viewedFarhan Bashir Khan of InvestCap.The central bank injected in thesystem over Rs 543 billion, Rs223.050 billion on March 26 and Rs320.450 billion on March 16, aftermoping up Rs 3 billion on the 13th ofthis month to help the liquiditymarket float in balance.

Another positive the analysts see isthe net domestic and foreign assets ofthe banks that, they believe, weredepicting much lower deteriorationcompared to the broad trend.According to SBP data, during July-March 16 (FY12), the banks’ NetForeign Assets stood at negative Rs225 billion against positive Rs 177billion of last year’s correspondingperiod. While the Net DomesticAssets of the banks swelled to Rs 731billion against Rs 364 billion of FY11.“We expect full year headlineinflation for FY12 to reside around

11.2 percent. Whether this shouldprovide room for monetary easing isan altogether different question,”analyst Khan said. Dubbing inflationno longer a prime concern for theeconomic managers in short run, theanalysts said imbalances on the fiscaland external fronts coupled with tightliquidity conditions were appearingto be much broader concerns for thecountry from monetary policy pointof view. however, given thegovernment’s ever-increasingbudgetary bank borrowings, whichhave swelled beyond Rs 923 billion

during July-March period, theanalysts said the central bank waslikely to keep the discount rateunchanged at 12 percent for the restof FY12. More worrisome is the factthat the cash-strapped government’soverall borrowings for budgetarysupport had swelled to Rs 1 trillion or4.6 percent of the country’s GrossDomestic Product.“Borrowing from SBP has crossed Rs235 billion, which is highest level sofar during FY12,” said the InvestCapanalyst adding “Over and above,inflation might pop back up as aleading concern during FY13 as anaftereffect of current liquidity andmoney supply trends.”Therefore, Khan said, the regulatormay be expected to stay the 12percent discount rate with possibilityof subsequent tightening.About monthly inflation position,Khan said the price hike was expectedto stand at 11.10 percent in March, up1.45 percent over the previous month.“We see current monthly inflationsustaining forward for remainder ofthis year,” the analyst said addingthat “Greater oil prices, possiblesupply shocks, seasonality as well astrickle down cost push pressures toplay a wider role in coming quarter”.

Double-edged swordhangs over SBPg Liquidity management by SBP augurs well for inflation, but aftereffects to unfold g Inflation for FY12 to rest at11.2pc for improved $16.44b dollar reserves g Price hike no more a concern, but fiscal, external imbalances are g Central bank pumped over Rs 543b in system in two OMOs g Government borrowing form banks swell to 4.6pc of GDP

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

The power distributioncompanies (DISCOs)shocked the Ministry ofWater and Power on

Thursday when they clearly expressedtheir helplessness in recovery of overRs 60 billion dues from provincialgovernment departments of Sindhand Punjab.An official source said DISCOsexpressed their helplessness at aspecially convened meeting to reviewtheir performance especially therecovery of outstanding dues. Ministerfor Water and Power, Syed NaveedQamar directed them for cutting theirpower supply. however, they said thatwas not possible as provincialgovernments start pressurizing themafter the move. They proposed cuttingof outstanding provincial dues at thefederal level. however, the source saidFinance Ministry was opposed to thedemand arguing that under the 18th

amendment that was not possible.The meeting was informed that theSindh government had outstandingdues of Rs 45 billion while of Punjabwere Rs 15 billion. When they wereasked to follow disconnectioncampaign indiscriminatingly, they saidthat they could not take the extremestep as the provincial governments failto provide them protection in case ofprotest, as already witnessed recentlyduring riots in Punjab.The Chief executives of DISCOs ofSindh said that the provincialgovernment had assured them to cleartheir outstanding dues but consideringthe huge outstanding amount therewas no possibility of any significantpayment during the current fiscal year.They demanded intervention by thefederal government to resolve theissue. experts have proposed manytimes that representatives from theprovincial government representativesand local administration should beincluded in DISCOs board of directorsto improve the recovery and curb themassive power theft. however, the source said the ministerdirected them that they should strictlyimplement the decision ofdisconnection in case of non paymentand no leniency should be showntowards the public sector departments.The meeting was informed that themain provincial defaulters were thewater supply departments and if theirpower supply was cut there could be

law and order situation.The meeting also took serious notice ofun-metered power supply to some ofthe provincial and municipalgovernment offices in Sindh. Theywere getting the facility after thedevastating floods of 2010 and 2011and were not ready to pay for installingnew meters. however, the ministerasked the CeOs of heSCO and SePCOto install meters on their own and ifthere was resistance then disconnectthe power supply. he directed thatthere should be no billing on the basisof load calculation anywhere in theprovince for any consumers. All thebilling should be made on actual use ofelectricity through metering. Themeeting was informed that over allDISCOs have improved their recover asthey collected Rs 36.5 billion as againstRs 41.5 billion during February, thisyear. however, the source said thattheir recovery of previous outstandingdues remained poor as they managedrecovery of only 5 percent.Warning DISCOs, the minister said tocheck their unscheduled load sheddinga monitoring cell was being establishedto streamline the load management.he said that due to increase in thepower generation, unannounced loadshedding has been lifted in the country.he asked them to follow the loadmanagement schedule. he directedthem that there should be nocomplaints of inflated bills and officialsinvolved should be taken to task.

Not dancing to the disco beatg DISCOs show helplessness in

recovery from provincialgovt departments

g Minister directs installationof meters for water supply in Sindh

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news02Friday, 30 March, 2012

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

The lahore Chamber ofCommerce and IndustryThursday urged the USgovernment to help Pakistan

overcome the electricity crisis it has beenfacing since last many years. The lCCIPresident Irfan Qaiser Sheikh was speakingat a reception arranged for US economicOfficers Robert hawkins and Frank Tallutoand the Vice President, M/s ConvergenceUSA, a not-for-profit organization, AakifAhmad. The lCCI Senior Vice President

Kashif Younis Meher, Vice PresidentSAARC Chamber of Commerce andIndustry Iftikhar Ali Malik, former SeniorVice president Abdul Basit and executiveCommittee Member Yousaf Shah also spokeon the occasion. The lCCI President saidthat Pakistan needs extra-ordinarycooperation from the United States as it wasa frontline ally with the United States whilefacing the brunt of war on terror even todaywhen the rest of the world is on the path toprogress and prosperity Irfan Qaiser Sheikhsaid that if the United States comes forwardat this point in time when the country ispassing through unprecedented challenging

times, the trade, economic and cultural tiesbetween the two countries would flourishfurther. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that thelahore Chamber of Commerce andIndustry was putting in its best efforts forpromotion of trade and economicprosperity. he said that it goes withoutsaying that America tops among the majortrading partners of Pakistan and there aremany areas including political, social,economic, defence and etc., in which bothcountries collaborate and cooperate witheach other. A significant volume ofPakistan’s exports find their way to USmarkets and likewise Pakistan importsfairly large amount of goods from America.Considering the historic relations of boththe countries and the critical role of Americain the economy of Pakistan, we wish toexpand these ties for our mutual benefits.

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

The small traders of the coun-try’s financial hub faced overRs 13.5 billion losses due to thefresh waive of violence in the

city. The small traders of the mega polis,which is under the fear and uncertaintyamid current wave of violence in certainareas that claimed many lives duringlast four days, have faced billions of ru-pees worth losses.

The traders who are already forcedpay huge amount in terms of extortiondifferent groups/gangs, have kept thewhole markets closed on Tuesday amidthe murder of tow political workers of aparty. Though the trade activities in oldcity areas and other markets resumed onWednesday morning but soon after an-other incident of target killing in the cityalso forced the traders to shut their busi-ness by the evening.

Besides, under the immense fear anduncertainty, absence of transport andamid mourning call of apolitical party,the business actives also remained par-tially disturbed as retail outlets in manyparts of the city remained closed. AtiqMir, Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad,said that the thousands of small tradershave faced over Rs 13.5 billion losses dueto the closure of business activities since23 March. The violence and fear whichkept the city’s markets for at least foursdays have caused huge losses to thetraders as during the last one week theycould hardly kept the wheel of businessrolling for at least two days.

The week proved to be the worst onethis month in terms of sales, which re-mained hardly 10 per cent of the normalsale level in the city. According to him anunfortunate incident in any parts of thecity now attributes the steep fall in busi-ness as the breaking news and tickers ofthe tv channels keep increasing fear and

uncertainty across the city.On Thursday, he said at least 60 per-

cent of the retail outlets were openedhowever in the absence of public trans-port and already existing fear and ten-sion in some parts of the city almost 40percent of the business activities re-mained disturbed. Sadar, Teen hati,lasbela and some parts of Orangi Townwere the major affected areas on Thurs-day. A sizable number of workers fromOrangi Town and other affected areashad been absent from the markets forthe last few days due to disruption inpublic transport owing to violence inthese localities. Besides he said buyerswere avoiding risk of visiting marketsafter reports in the electronic media re-garding violence in various areas.

he said rumours circulating via cellphones have also been restricting buyersto their homes. On the other hand, talk-ing to Profit, Abdul Samee Khan, Presi-dent Petroleum Dealers Association said

that the dealers have also gone throughthe losses of millions of rupees during thepast few days as their pumps were alsoforcefully kept closed by various groups.

“Our main concern is currently thelack of security as different groups ofpeople showing their belongings to vari-ous parties come to our outlets and askeither close the pump or face conse-quences,” he said. Though over 80 to 90per cent of petrol pumps remainedopened on Thursday but the lean publictransport thus the suspension in sale ofCNG and petrol at pumps also added thefinancial woes of the dealers.

In reply to a query he said that thepump owners were not deliberatelyclosing their outlets but the criminalswere forcing the staffs to keep the out-lets shut. he complained that the lawenforcement agencies and governmenthave been completely failed to in pro-viding security to the petroleum andCNG dealers’ business.

Violence victimsAPtMA comes clean

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

ChAIRMAN APTMA (Punjab Zone)Mr. Ahsan Bashir has said thatAPTMA in cooperation with GIZ

has established a Sustainable ProductionCentre to promote cleaner productiontechnologies and energy efficiency bestpractices in the member mills. he wasaddressing closing ceremony of four daysenergy Manager Training Programme forthe industry professionals involved inenergy management in the industryorganised by APTMA in collaborationwith Small & Medium enterprisesDevelopment Authority (SMeDA),German International Cooperation (GIZ),and Training and Development Centre forthe Bavarian employers’ Association(BFZ). The objective of this trainingprogramme is to upgrade the existingsilks and knowledge of energy managersto carry out energy conservation activitieson continual basis on their own.Chairman APTMA Punjab said the textileIndustry has realized the importance ofconserving energy and emphasised thatsince industry is taking initiatives toimprove energy demand, the governmentshould also take necessary measures toensure uninterrupted energy supplies tothe industry. Speaking on the occasion,Mr. Strahel Martin (InternationalCoordinator, BFZ), elaborated on the Bfzrole to promote energy efficiency in thetextile sector.

Who wants to be a billionaire?g tax authorities seize 2.3b

from LeSCO bank accountsLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

DURING this fiscal year, FBR has toachieve a huge revenue target of Rs.1952 billion. Significant efforts are

being made by the field formations toincrease the pace and quantum ofcollection.Recently, RTO, lahore has recovered ahuge amount of tax arrears from leSCO. Ina bold move, the tax authorities seized thebank accounts of leSCO and collected over2300 million rupees in a single day on 27March 2012.On March 28 2012, leSCO moved anapplication for stay against the recoverymeasures before the lahore high Court.Arguing for the revenue, the law Officer ofthe RTO, lahore Mr. Zain Ul Abidin Sahi,Additional Commissioner apprised thecourt regarding defiant and non-cooperative attitude of leSCO. he statedthat writ of the law needs to be established.evasive attitude of taxpayers is to bediscouraged at all levels since it deprivesthe society of valuable resources, needed forsocio-economic uplift.The court acknowledged the right of the taxauthorities to enforce compliance anddismissed the petition of leSCO. Thejudgment has sent a strong signal to alldefaulters that non-compliance anddelaying tactics of the yesteryears have noplace in the present milieu.

g traders, petroluem dealers bear astronomical losses

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

CeMeNT industryexperts have termed ita good omen that thelocal cement

consumption is likely to surpass2.3 million tons in the month ofMarch 2012. however, they ruethat the industry is barelysurviving on thin margins.In March 2010 the industrymanaged local dispatches to thetune of 1.993 million tons innorth while 0.317 million tonsin south totaling to 2.31 milliontons which was a record, whileit is likely that the localdispatches will cross 2 milliontons in north and 0.5 milliontons in south, however thegrowth comes at a time whenindustry is perplexed and forcedto continue production even onlosses as the cost of shuttingdown the plants is even higherdue to loans acquired at higherrates from the banks.The industry experts added thatincrease of electricity tariff,under monthly fuel adjustmentmechanism has increased theindustry cost of productionmanifold. They are of the viewthat working of even existing

industries has becomeimpossible due to high raise ininput cost, as the recent jump inelectricity charges would elevatethe cost of cement by Rs 20 perbag. They also observed that theunprecedented electricity andgas crisis coupled with therecord high discount rate by thecentral bank have been hittingthe industry hard in thecountry.he said that energy, whichconstitutes more than 60percent cost of production, hastaken a quantum jump in acouple of years, making theproduction cost almost double.The ever-increasing prices ofdiesel, coal and electricity, arethe major factors enhancingcost of production, but notpassed on to the consumers bythe industry.“We have not been able to passon the increase in cost ofproduction to the consumersbecause of higher capacity andlower demand,” said anotherindustry player adding that inIndia a cement bag fetches Rs.150 per bag higher thanPakistan (converted into Pakrupee). Moreover, he added thetransportation cost of coal andcement has now become a

major input cost as the dieselrates have doubled in last fiveyears from Rs. 52 per liter to Rs.104 per liter.“Cement is a capital intensiveindustry,” said another expert.“Most of the industry has addedcapacities in past decade whenthe interest rates were low andnow they are servicing thoseloans at three times highermark up which naturally addsto the cost,” he added.“We have right to earnreasonable profit on ourinvestment that is being deniedthrough constant arm twistingfrom various quarters,”lamented another expert. hesaid that crossing the monthlysales barrier of 2.31 million tonsin the domestic market calls forcelebration but the industryfeels cheated as during the pastten years the manufacturershave earned on average Rs. 6per bag while the governmentpocketed Rs. 76 per bag throughits various levies.The cement sector, he added,has been in the deep financialcrunch which is evident fromthe majority of the cementmakers’ balance sheets whichshow gloomy picture of theirbusinesses.

Uncle Sam to the rescue?g LCCI believes US might have electricity crisis solution g Pinshope of trade, economic prosperity on sound uncle-nephew bond

Any comments?SeCP seeks comments on draft electric PowerIndustry Cost Accounting Records Order, 2012

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

The Securities and exchange Commission of Pakistan(SeCP) has notified the draft electric Power Genera-tion Industry Cost Accounting Records Order 2012

for the companies engaged wholly or partially in generationof electric power energy under the licenses granted by theNational electric Power Regulatory Authority (NePRA). Thecommission has sought comments from all stakeholders andthe public till the end of April 2012 before final notification.The electric power generation order has been notified in su-persession of the earlier draft Thermal energy Cost Account-ing Records Order notified by the SeCP, in November 2011,for companies engaged in the generation of thermal energy.The new rules were notified on the suggestion of NePRA inits capacity as the frontline regulator of the thermal energyand power sector. NePRA had requested that the scope ofthe thermal energy order be enhanced and made applicableto all the license holders of electric power generating com-panies instead of only thermal energy companies. These sug-gestions were received as part of a consultative process andNePRA had appreciated the SeCP’s initiative for formulat-ing and prescribing the cost accounting record. Further-more, NePRA was of the view that the implementation ofthe electric power generation order would result in trans-parency in operations of power generating companies andwould also help NePRA in performing their duties. SeCPstrives to make regulations in the interest of the industry, asa whole, and also in the interest of other stakeholders, in-cluding the public. Cost audits can provide relevant andcredible cost and revenue data to the stakeholders to supporttheir decisions. The cost audit mechanism acts as a measureof efficiency and performance. It can serve as an importanttool for effective enterprise governance, competitiveness andstrengthening the regulatory mechanism.

Constructing hope

Karachi riots

g Cement consumption likely to surpass 2.3m tonnesg Fuel price hike doubles production cost

LAHORE: economic relations betweenPakistan and Myanmar need to be furtherstrengthened as $ 70 million bilateraltrade between the two nations has nomatch to their respective latent poten-tials. This was stated by the Ambassadorof Myanmar U San Myint Oo while speak-ing at the lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry on Wednesday. lCCI Presi-dent Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Senior VicePresident Kashif Younis Meher and for-mer lCCI Vice President and executiveCommittee member Aftab Ahmad Vohraalso spoke on the occasion. Mr. Okkar,Minister-Counsellor of Myanmar and Mr.Aung Kyi, First Secretary of the embassyof Myanmar gave a detailed presentationon the available business opportunities inMyanmar.The Ambassador said that theexchange of trade-related informationand exchange of business delegationscould jack up the volume of two-way

trade to desired levels. “We can promoteour trade and economic ties together. Wecan have equal bilateral relations for tradepromotion, social and cultural ties,” theAmbassador said. “There should be moreexchange programs and reciprocal visitsand they should learn from each other,”he said. “let’s increase our trade. let’shave more trade and more exchange ofskills and technology and help eachother in terms of economy.” Speaking onthe occasion, the lCCI President IrfanQaiser Sheikh said that the trade figuresreflect that there is a lot of potential yetto be explored between two countries.The situation calls for aggressive market-ing of Pakistani merchandise in Myan-mar and vice versa. he said that in orderto give a quick boost to two way trade,exchanges of trade delegations betweenboth countries can be the best strategy toadopt. STAFF REPORT

$70m Pak-Myanmar trade not good enough

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news

Friday, 30 March, 2012

03

Sanofi, Diabetic Association to sign MoUto promote better diabetes management

KARACHI: Sanofi announced today collaboration withthe Diabetic Association of Pakistan (DAP) to improvethe quality of care for diabetic patients in Pakistan. Dia-betes is increasing at an alarming rate in Pakistan. Thereare currently (approx.) 7.1 million diabetic patients inPakistan; by 2030 Pakistan is projected to have 11.4 mil-lion diabetics and will rank 10 th in the world.A MoUwas signed today between the General Manager andManaging Director of Sanofi Pakistan, Mr. Tariq Wajid,and Prof. A. Samad Shera, Secretary General DiabeticAssociation of Pakistan. The distinguished Prof. Sherais also the honorary President of International DiabetesFederation (IDF) and heads the World health Organi-zation (WhO) Collaborating Centre. PRESS RELEASE

Bank Alfalah profits swell toRs9.7575bn in 2011KARACHI: The Bank Alfalah made a profit beforeprovision and taxation of Rs 9.757 billion for the yearended December 31, 2011, as compared to Rs 5.603billion in 2010, registering a significant improvementof 74 percent over the previous year. This was ob-served by the 20th Annual General Meeting of thebank held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Ab-dullah Khalil Ali Mutawa in the absence of Sheikhhamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan. The Board mem-bers present were Khalid Mana Saeed Al Otaiba,Ikram ul Majeed Sehgal, Nadeem Iqbal Sheikh andAtif Bajwa, the CeO Bank Alfalah. The directors at theAGM said the bank’s deposits grew by 13.34 percentto Rs 401.248 billion as compared to last year. Totalassets grew by 13.78 percent to Rs 468.174 billionwhile gross loans and advances remained stable,marked by a nominal decline of Rs 7 billion. There wasa significant increase of 46.82 percent in net invest-ments complimenting the overall shift of focus of thebanking industry towards investments particularly ingovernment securities. The Islamic banking businessrecorded an increase of 47.48 percent in profit beforetax to Rs 1,430.5 million from Rs 969.9 million in 2011

remaining the second largest Islamic Banking Net-work in Pakistan with 85 branches. STAFF REPORT

JS Investments announces interim dividends for JS Income Fund, JS Cash FundKARACHI: The Chief executive Officer under theauthority of the Board of Directors of JS Investmentslimited has announced interim dividends for JS In-come Fund & JS Cash Fund for the third quarter ofFinancial Year 2012, ending on March 31, 2012. A payout of Rs. 2.50 per unit was approved for the Unitholders of JS Income Fund and a pay out of Rs. 2.50per unit was approved for the Unit holders of JS CashFund, which takes the total payout for the current fis-cal year to Rs. 8.00 per unit for JS Income Fund & JSCash Fund each. Unit holders who have opted forcash payout will receive cash payment while Unitholders who have opted for bonus units were allo-cated units at the ex-net asset value at the close ofbusiness on March 27, 2012. The above entitlementwill be paid to the Unit holders, whose names ap-peared in the register of Unit holders at the close ofbusiness on March 27, 2012. PRESS RELEASE

national Bank of Pakistan signs agreement with MicrosoftKARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan has enteredinto an agreement with Microsoft Pakistan. The signingceremony took place at the National Bank of Pakistanhead Office in Karachi. The Microsoft enterpriseAgreement will enable National Bank to use MicrosoftVirtualization, Unified Communication, BusinessProcess Automation, Private Cloud technologies as wellas Premier Support to provide enterprise class technol-ogy support services. The agreement was signed by Mr.Kamal Ahmed, Country General Manager, MicrosoftPakistan and Mr. Mahmood Siddique, CIO, Nationalbank of Pakistan. Also present at the ceremony wereSayed hashish, GM Microsoft NePA, MounirBouzouba, Business Manager, Microsoft NePA andAbid Zaidi, Commercial Segment lead, enterpriseGroup, Microsoft Pakistan. PRESS RELEASE

Governor awards CSR Business excellence Awards to 36 organisationsLAHORE: Governor Punjab Sardar latif Khosa ap-praised corporate sector and entrepreneurs for theircontribution in the development of the country andservice to the welfare of people in the country. he es-pecially eulogized the efforts of corporate sector,which had reached out and helped the people duringthe natural calamities of earthquake of 2005 and

floods of 2010. he emphasized to show the same re-silience and unity to counter the menaces power cri-sis, terrorism, poverty and illiteracy. he wasaddressing to the participants of 4th InternationalSummit on “Corporate Social Responsibility” and 1stCSR Business excellence Awards 2012 organized byNational Forum for environment & health (NFeh)in collaboration with United National environmentalProgram (UNeP) here at a local hotel. PRESS RELEASE

Latif Khosa Also appreciated nFeH fororganising 1st CSR award & conferenceLAHORE: The lahore Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (lCCI) president Irfan Qaiser Sheikh alsolauded the efforts of corporate sector for their con-tribution in the development of the country despitethe energy crisis and appreciated for winning the ex-cellence awards in their respective fields. M. NaeemQureshi President NFeh briefed about objectives ofawards & conference. PRESS RELEASE

Banks to remain open on March 31 tofacilitate trade, industryKARACHI: The central bank Thursday said the SBP-BSC and all its field offices would remain open on Sat-urday, March 31, till 10pm to facilitate the trade andindustry in getting their cargo cleared for import andexport and for receiving returns and payments of dutyand taxes. The NIFT, it said, would also remain openon the same date for both first and second clearing tofacilitate tax collection by the Federal Board of Rev-enue. “To facilitate collection of taxes, the banks areadvised to open such branches and other offices onMarch 31… till 5 p.m. that are necessary to facilitateaforesaid NIFT clearing on the same date,” said anABP circular issued here. PRESS RELEASE

new PIA Managing Director settles inLAHORE: Air Chief Marshal (R), Rao Qamar Sule-man, took over as Managing Director PIA at the PIAhead Office on Thursday. Addressing the Senior Of-ficers in the Board Room, he stated that he would bejoining the family of PIA workforce and would beworking with the team to take PIA to the positionwhere it belongs. At the outset, Suleman said, “Iwould like to mention and dispel the misgivings thatI would be joining PIA with a team of 30-40 mem-bers, which is incorrect, and would be working withthe available human Resource in PIA with a fewchanges as the time and work may warrant”. earlier,the outgoing MD PIA, Nadeem Yousufzai welcomedSuleman, appreciating his leadership qualities.Yousufzai said that the new MD would be a better ad-ministrator and while praying for his success asked

the PIA officials to wholeheartedly work under hisable guidance. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI: Mr. William Martin, Consul General of UnitedStates of America, handing over CIO of the Year Awardto Mr. Tariq Malik ( Deputy Chairman NADRA) in anextravagant event held in Karachi PRESS RELEASE

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Sapphire Fiber 110.77 116.30 116.30 116.30 5.53 10Gatron Industries 76.50 80.32 73.00 80.32 3.82 1,818MCB Bank Ltd XDXB 170.88 176.90 170.00 174.42 3.54 1,433,261Gillette Pak 66.80 70.14 65.00 69.87 3.07 1,584Hinopak Motor 70.12 73.62 70.55 72.86 2.74 3,241

Major Losers

UniLever Pak LtdXD 5698.38 5795.00 5502.00 5588.54 -109.84 34Bata (Pak) Ltd. 602.00 630.00 571.90 573.90 -28.10 714Indus Dyeing 427.23 405.90 405.87 405.87 -21.36 148Nestle PakXD 4415.00 4440.00 4306.00 4399.95 -15.05 42Mithchells Fruit 192.68 196.00 183.05 183.11 -9.57 524

Volume Leaders

Lafarge Pakistan 3.96 4.55 3.80 4.38 0.42 50,196,516Jah.Sidd. Co. 22.39 22.30 21.28 21.35 -1.04 25,417,232Pace (Pak) Ltd. 2.90 3.46 3.02 3.13 0.23 23,680,622B.O.Punjab 10.47 10.90 9.80 10.15 -0.32 20,482,643National BankXDXB 43.06 45.21 43.30 45.21 2.15 16,683,987

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.6882UK Pound 144.2306Japanese Yen 1.1010euro 120.5519

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 90.50 91.10Euro 119.45 121.11Great Britain Pound 143.11 145.06Japanese Yen 1.0899 1.1049Canadian Dollar 89.78 91.53Hong Kong Dollar 11.50 11.73UAE Dirham 24.56 24.87Saudi Riyal 24.04 24.36Australian Dollar 92.55 95.26

KARACHI: Mr Mushtaq Chhapra the Chairman and aFounding Director of The Foundation speaking on theoccasion of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited’s“Together we can make it happen” dinner. PRESS RELEASE

LAHORE: Amna Haq and Ammar Belal pose at theSamsung Galaxy Note Studio. PRESS RELEASE

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The day saw the tradingvolumes at the ready-counter were recordedlower by 2.759 billion to

Rs 6.336 billion against 9.093billion. The benchmark 100-shareindex decreasing by 16.31 pointsto 13, 559.10 from 13,575.41 ofWednesday. Ahsan Mehanti,Director at Arif habibInvestments limited, said thatthe Stocks closed lower at KSeafter SeCP chair confirms delayin revised CGT regime on legalissues. Total numbers of Shares of427 companies were traded onThursday, and at the end of the

day total 123 stocks closed higher,total 198 were declined while 106remained flat. The overall value ofshares traded during the day wasRs3.445 billion.he added, “Fall in global stocksand commodities on growthworries across the globe andlimited foreign interest played acatalyst role in bearishsentiments at KSe.” The tradingvolumes at the ready-counterwere recorded lower at 3.445million shares against 4.502million shares of the previousday. The trading valuedecreasing to Rs 6.336 billioncompared to Rs 9.093 billion ofthe previous session. Theintraday high and low,

respectively, stood at 13,641.89and 13, 468.25 points. Marketcapitalization declined to 3.477trillion from 3.484 trillion.Institutional interest remainedin blue-chip banks, fertilizer andenergy stocks ahead of thequarter end supported themarket despite concerns for law& order during strike call in thecity, viewed Mehanti. KSe All share-index ended theday at 9,510.53 points, down15.25 points or 0.16 percent,KSe 30-index stopped the dayat 11,938.11 points, increasing34.34 points or 0.29 percentwhile the KMI 30-indexslumped by 24.45 points or 0.11percent to end the day at 23,

189.41. The lafarge Pakistanwas volume leader of the day,50.196 million shares andgained Rs 0.42 to close at Rs4.38, followed by JahangirSiddiqui Company, PacePakistan limited, Bank ofPunjab and National BankXDXB with turnover of 25.417million, 23.680 million, 20.482million and 16.683 millionshares respectively. TheSapphire Fiber and GatronIndustries, up Rs 5.53 and Rs3.82, led highest price gainerswhile, Unilever Pakistan limitedXD and BataPakistan limited, down Rs109.84 and Rs 28.10respectively, led the losers.

Bears halt bull surge,index down 16.31 points

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