Friday, 2 November, 2012 ISLAMABAD APP According to the latest Food Price Watch, global food prices increased 10% between June and July 2012 with staples such as wheat increasing 25% in the period. “The crisis continues to have effects on food and nutrition security throughout South Asia. Bad weather, trade curbs, oil prices and bio-fuel diversions have all led to higher food prices, which destabilizes the incomes and food security of millions across the region”reports World Bank. “While rising food prices risks higher core inflation in the developing countries, the volatility proportionally squeezes the poor with considerably detrimental effects for their nutrition outcomes. Jos‚ Cuesta, Senior Economist at the World Bank said, “food prices increased sharply in the month of July.we see that the effects on poverty can reach up to 20% and the im- pact on the performance of children in school, their development and growth are not only transitory but can last a lifetime.” The Bank said that the studies in the last few years in Afghanistan and else- where have confirmed that rises in the cost of food have led to a switch in consumption from nutrient rich foods, such as vegeta- bles, meats and other proteins to nutrient- poor staples, such as rice and wheat. “There is also evidence of children’s food intake being protected, typically at the cost of women’s consumption. When the affects of the crisis are more severe, house- holds may also sell productive assets, take children out of school, and reduce ex- penses on health”, the bank said. “The poverty and nutritional impact of food price spikes on the poor is significant since they spend a larger fraction of their income on food than relatively better off individuals,” said Kalpana Kochhar, Chief Economist of the South Asia region of the World Bank in the South Asia Economic Focus on Food Inflation While these are not preferred out- comes, they are sadly a reality for the many poor households that face rapidly fluctuat- ing prices. Another South Asia report, Food Price Increases in South Asia: Na- tional Responses and Regional Dimen- sions found that households who previously were living not far above the poverty line are likely to have fallen into poverty as the result of higher food prices. To continuously monitor such fluctua- tions, the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Equity Group produces its quarterly Food Price Watch which is complementary to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO’s) GIEWS Country Highlighting the Solutions to the prob- lem ,the World Bank said that concerted efforts should be made at a national level to mitigate the nutritional effects of such shocks, for instance, rice fortification can be a cost-effective means to stabilizing the nutritional impact on these poorest house- holds. Cuestas recommend a balanced set of policies; ones oriented to compensate for the negative impacts of high prices es- pecially through safety nets, as well as medium to long term investments in agri- culture; especially on productivity and cli- mate-smart agriculture policies. As a response the Bank has created several fi- nancial instruments to help mitigate the impacts of climate change on food price in- stability. The IMF, which also tracks food price commodity prices, is working to pro- vide policy support and financial assis- tance to low-income countries facing such food shocks through a funding program called the Exogenous Shocks Facility. Pro- grammes and policies to help mitigate food price hikes include safety nets to ensure poor families can afford basic staples, sus- tained investments in agriculture, the in- troduction of drought-resistant crop varieties—which have provided large yield and production gains—and keeping inter- national trade open to the export and im- port of food. To combat such trends in South Asia, resources have been made available through 2012 for the Bank’s Global Food Price Crisis Response Pro- gramme (GFRP) in order to mitigate the worst of these shocks. 10% hike for food prices Global food prices increased 10% between June and July 2012 with staples such as wheat increasing 25%: WB KARACHI ISMAIL DILAWAR A S the inflation-driven monetary policy stance of the State Bank appears to be more predictable in the months ahead, the market observers foresee a positive domino affect on the share market that, they believe, would keep attracting more investors with the benchmark KSE 100-share index poised to hit new highs. Thursday saw the KSE 100 index closing at all time high of 15,962 points after peaking to the intraday high of 16,005 points. The analysts attribute this historic upward movement of the index prima- rily to monetary policy easing by the central bank in the recent months. “Primary reason for such improved performance from equities has been cut in the policy rate by the central bank in first week of Oct-12,” said Mazhar A. Sabir, an analyst at InvestCap Re- search. With the index gaining 52.26 points, the trading volume at the ready counter grew beyond 189 million shares compared to 135 million of the previous trading session. “(The) stocks closed at highest close amid higher trades led by cement and oil sector stocks on rising global com- modities,” said Ashen Mehanti, a senior analyst and director at Arif Habib Secu- rities. The analyst sees institutional profit-taking on reports of falling rupee-dollar parity ahead of loan re- payments to the International Mone- tary Fund, which is due this month, and higher import bills for the troubled na- tional exchequer as major factors be- hind the index’s Thursday’s performance. “KSE 100 crossed highest ever 16000 level during the trading session,” he added. Global stocks and commodities rally, improved current account bal- ance for the first quarter FY13 and speculations ahead of CPI inflation an- nouncements for the month of October due on Friday played a catalyst role in bullish sentiments post quarter end earning announcements at the Karachi stocks market. The trading value, however, inched down to Rs 4.727 billion from Wednes- day’s Rs 4.957 billion. The market cap- ital surged by Rs 16 billion to Rs 3.980 trillion from Rs 3.964 trillion a day ear- lier. A monthly account of the KSE index shows a growth of 3 percent dur- ing the just-concluded month of Octo- ber. “Marked with relatively high volatility while having rebounded at the tale-end of the month, KSE100 ex- tended its ride further with a MoM in- crease of 3 percent,” said InvestCap analyst Sabir. Last rate-cut of 50 basis points by the central bank, Sabir says, caused the market to dip and was lowered by one percent from the highest level of 15,875 points. “At the end of the month on the ex- pectation of another single digit CPI figure coupled with inline corporate re- sults of major companies market re- bounded by 3 percent,” he said. During the month in review, the av- erage market volume stood 124 million shares, relatively lower against the pre- vious month’s volumes, down by 15 percent. The KSE 100-share index yielded a decent return of 12 percent during 4MFY13 and settling YTD return at 40 percent during 9MCY12. Sector-wise, positive returns pro- vided by a mix of textile (up 11.1 per- cent), cement (up 5.9 percent) and food producers (up 5.2 percent), outper- formed KSE100 during October. On the flip side, telecom sector down by 13 percent underperformed against the KSE100 index by 10 percent. In terms of region, Pakistan’s equi- ties outperformed in Asia pacific region during the month and posted positive return of mere 0.05 percent (based on USD market capitalization) as against the Asia pacific average negative return of one percent. KSE100’s YTD return is still above par than that of the regional markets’ as well as other world benchmark in- dices’ with 29 percent return compar- ing average return of Asia pacific of 20 percent during the same period. Similarly, Pakistan equities re- ceived foreign funds of $ 38 million as against outflows in the Asia pacific re- gion of $497 million. However, on an YTD basis, Pakistan and Vietnam equi- ties stood with smallest size of inflow with only $99 million and $20 million respectively, while regional equities combined stand with a massive inflow of $38 billion during this period. “With an expectation of below 8 percent inflation in Oct-12 coupled with latest T-bills auction (t-bills cutoff yields down by 38bps) suggest that the monetary policy is predicated to remain in the easing phase (with 50-100bps DR cut expected in Dec-12), making eq- uity markets favorable for the in- vestors,” said Sabir adding “This is foreseen to provide impetus to equities going forward”. The analysts’ long-term stance on the equity market is positive as they see certain sectors like textile, cement and oil and gas as more profitable in the days to come. Abdul Azeem, another InvestCap analyst, says the index climbing above the 15,875 points pivot that would re- flect follow through buying, which help the index to further gain towards 16,000 levels. KSE rewrites history SECP’s FDI ranking improves by 5 points KARACHI STAFF REPORT The World Economic Forum has improved the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s ranking by five points in the Financial Develop- ment Index of 2012, launched on October 31st. The SECP secured 37th position out of 62 secu- rities regulators globally, whereas China ranked at 38 in the category of regulation of securities and exchanges. The improvement in the Index is achieved in the background of various structural and orga- nizational reforms introduced in the SECP by current management. The SECP’s recent initiatives include demutual- ization of stock exchanges, the capital market investor education and awareness programme, implementation of the concept of e-IPO, launch of new Takaful rules and introduction of stan- dard operating procedures in the form of five manuals. These manuals are covering all as- pects of enforcement functions of the SECP. The SECP has also introduced new future con- tracts at the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Lim- ited in sugar, wheat, crude oil, silver and gold that aimed to fulfill the hedging requirements of various groups of investors in the newly devel- oped commodities market. The Corporate Law Review Commission was also revived and a reform committee was con- stituted to furnish recommendations for the promotion and growth of a sustainable non- banking financial sector. In addition, the Code of Corporate Governance 2012 has also been in- troduced revising the existing requirements and making it more in line with international best practices. Moreover, the capital market investor education and awareness programme was launched in July 2012. It is aimed at making people aware of various financial products and understanding their rights and responsibilities to enable them to make informed investment decision. The re- vised Code of Corporate Governance was launched in April 2012. And a similar code for the state-owned enterprises is being finalised. In May 2012, the Chairman SECP Muhammad Ali was elected to the executive board of the In- ternational Organisation of Securities Commis- sion (IOSCO). Set up in 1983, the IOSCO is a Madrid-headquartered organisation with 182 members. The World Economic Forum Report finds, as economies develop, they increase their demand for the services provided by financial markets relative to those provided by banks, so that fi- nancial markets become comparatively more important as economies grow. g Share market makes history as central bank keeps easing monetary policy g KSE100 index peaks to 16,005 before closing at record 15,962pts g Benchmark index grew by 3% during October12 g Pakistan equity market outperforms regional markets with 0.05pc return g Pakistan equities receive $38m against $497m outflows in region g Analysts foresee another 50-100bps rate-cut by State Bank in Dec 18-Business Pages- 02 November_Layout 1 11/2/2012 4:53 AM Page 1
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Friday, 2 November, 2012
ISLAMABAD
APP
According to the latest Food Price Watch,global food prices increased 10% betweenJune and July 2012 with staples such aswheat increasing 25% in the period.
“The crisis continues to have effects onfood and nutrition security throughoutSouth Asia. Bad weather, trade curbs, oilprices and bio-fuel diversions have all ledto higher food prices, which destabilizesthe incomes and food security of millionsacross the region”reports World Bank.
“While rising food prices risks highercore inflation in the developing countries,the volatility proportionally squeezes thepoor with considerably detrimental effectsfor their nutrition outcomes. Jos‚ Cuesta,Senior Economist at the World Bank said,“food prices increased sharply in themonth of July.we see that the effects onpoverty can reach up to 20% and the im-pact on the performance of children inschool, their development and growth arenot only transitory but can last a lifetime.”
The Bank said that the studies in thelast few years in Afghanistan and else-where have confirmed that rises in the cost
of food have led to a switch in consumptionfrom nutrient rich foods, such as vegeta-bles, meats and other proteins to nutrient-poor staples, such as rice and wheat.
“There is also evidence of children’sfood intake being protected, typically at thecost of women’s consumption. When theaffects of the crisis are more severe, house-holds may also sell productive assets, takechildren out of school, and reduce ex-penses on health”, the bank said.
“The poverty and nutritional impact offood price spikes on the poor is significantsince they spend a larger fraction of theirincome on food than relatively better offindividuals,” said Kalpana Kochhar, ChiefEconomist of the South Asia region of theWorld Bank in the South Asia EconomicFocus on Food Inflation
While these are not preferred out-comes, they are sadly a reality for the manypoor households that face rapidly fluctuat-ing prices. Another South Asia report,Food Price Increases in South Asia: Na-tional Responses and Regional Dimen-sions found that households whopreviously were living not far above thepoverty line are likely to have fallen intopoverty as the result of higher food prices.
To continuously monitor such fluctua-tions, the World Bank’s Poverty Reductionand Equity Group produces its quarterlyFood Price Watch which is complementaryto the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO’s) GIEWS Country
Highlighting the Solutions to the prob-lem ,the World Bank said that concertedefforts should be made at a national levelto mitigate the nutritional effects of suchshocks, for instance, rice fortification canbe a cost-effective means to stabilizing thenutritional impact on these poorest house-holds. Cuestas recommend a balanced setof policies; ones oriented to compensatefor the negative impacts of high prices es-pecially through safety nets, as well asmedium to long term investments in agri-culture; especially on productivity and cli-mate-smart agriculture policies. As aresponse the Bank has created several fi-nancial instruments to help mitigate theimpacts of climate change on food price in-stability. The IMF, which also tracks foodprice commodity prices, is working to pro-vide policy support and financial assis-tance to low-income countries facing suchfood shocks through a funding programcalled the Exogenous Shocks Facility. Pro-
grammes and policies to help mitigate foodprice hikes include safety nets to ensurepoor families can afford basic staples, sus-tained investments in agriculture, the in-troduction of drought-resistant cropvarieties—which have provided large yieldand production gains—and keeping inter-
national trade open to the export and im-port of food. To combat such trends inSouth Asia, resources have been madeavailable through 2012 for the Bank’sGlobal Food Price Crisis Response Pro-gramme (GFRP) in order to mitigate theworst of these shocks.
10% hike for food pricesGlobal food prices increased 10% between June and July 2012 with staples such as wheat increasing 25%: WB
KARACHI
ISMAIL DILAWAR
AS the inflation-drivenmonetary policy stanceof the State Bank appearsto be more predictable inthe months ahead, the
market observers foresee a positivedomino affect on the share market that,they believe, would keep attractingmore investors with the benchmarkKSE 100-share index poised to hit newhighs.
Thursday saw the KSE 100 indexclosing at all time high of 15,962 pointsafter peaking to the intraday high of16,005 points.
The analysts attribute this historicupward movement of the index prima-rily to monetary policy easing by thecentral bank in the recent months.
“Primary reason for such improvedperformance from equities has been cutin the policy rate by the central bank infirst week of Oct-12,” said Mazhar A.Sabir, an analyst at InvestCap Re-search.
With the index gaining 52.26points, the trading volume at the readycounter grew beyond 189 millionshares compared to 135 million of theprevious trading session.
“(The) stocks closed at highest closeamid higher trades led by cement andoil sector stocks on rising global com-modities,” said Ashen Mehanti, a senioranalyst and director at Arif Habib Secu-rities.
The analyst sees institutionalprofit-taking on reports of fallingrupee-dollar parity ahead of loan re-payments to the International Mone-tary Fund, which is due this month, andhigher import bills for the troubled na-tional exchequer as major factors be-hind the index’s Thursday’sperformance.
“KSE 100 crossed highest ever16000 level during the trading session,”he added.
Global stocks and commodities
rally, improved current account bal-ance for the first quarter FY13 andspeculations ahead of CPI inflation an-nouncements for the month of Octoberdue on Friday played a catalyst role inbullish sentiments post quarter endearning announcements at the Karachistocks market.
The trading value, however, incheddown to Rs 4.727 billion from Wednes-day’s Rs 4.957 billion. The market cap-ital surged by Rs 16 billion to Rs 3.980trillion from Rs 3.964 trillion a day ear-lier.
A monthly account of the KSEindex shows a growth of 3 percent dur-ing the just-concluded month of Octo-ber.
“Marked with relatively highvolatility while having rebounded at thetale-end of the month, KSE100 ex-tended its ride further with a MoM in-crease of 3 percent,” said InvestCapanalyst Sabir.
Last rate-cut of 50 basis points bythe central bank, Sabir says, caused themarket to dip and was lowered by onepercent from the highest level of 15,875points.
“At the end of the month on the ex-pectation of another single digit CPIfigure coupled with inline corporate re-
sults of major companies market re-bounded by 3 percent,” he said.
During the month in review, the av-erage market volume stood 124 millionshares, relatively lower against the pre-vious month’s volumes, down by 15percent.
The KSE 100-share index yielded adecent return of 12 percent during4MFY13 and settling YTD return at 40percent during 9MCY12.
Sector-wise, positive returns pro-vided by a mix of textile (up 11.1 per-cent), cement (up 5.9 percent) and foodproducers (up 5.2 percent), outper-formed KSE100 during October. On theflip side, telecom sector down by 13percent underperformed against theKSE100 index by 10 percent.
In terms of region, Pakistan’s equi-ties outperformed in Asia pacific regionduring the month and posted positivereturn of mere 0.05 percent (based onUSD market capitalization) as againstthe Asia pacific average negative returnof one percent.
KSE100’s YTD return is still abovepar than that of the regional markets’as well as other world benchmark in-dices’ with 29 percent return compar-ing average return of Asia pacific of 20percent during the same period.
Similarly, Pakistan equities re-ceived foreign funds of $ 38 million asagainst outflows in the Asia pacific re-gion of $497 million. However, on anYTD basis, Pakistan and Vietnam equi-ties stood with smallest size of inflowwith only $99 million and $20 millionrespectively, while regional equitiescombined stand with a massive inflowof $38 billion during this period.
“With an expectation of below 8percent inflation in Oct-12 coupled withlatest T-bills auction (t-bills cutoffyields down by 38bps) suggest that themonetary policy is predicated to remainin the easing phase (with 50-100bpsDR cut expected in Dec-12), making eq-uity markets favorable for the in-vestors,” said Sabir adding “This isforeseen to provide impetus to equitiesgoing forward”.
The analysts’ long-term stance onthe equity market is positive as they seecertain sectors like textile, cement andoil and gas as more profitable in thedays to come.
Abdul Azeem, another InvestCapanalyst, says the index climbing abovethe 15,875 points pivot that would re-flect follow through buying, which helpthe index to further gain towards16,000 levels.
KSE rewrites historySECP’s FDI rankingimproves by 5 points
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
The World EconomicForum has improved theSecurities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan’sranking by five points inthe Financial Develop-ment Index of 2012,launched on October 31st.
The SECP secured 37th position out of 62 secu-rities regulators globally, whereas China rankedat 38 in the category of regulation of securitiesand exchanges.The improvement in the Index is achieved inthe background of various structural and orga-nizational reforms introduced in the SECP bycurrent management.The SECP’s recent initiatives include demutual-ization of stock exchanges, the capital marketinvestor education and awareness programme,implementation of the concept of e-IPO, launchof new Takaful rules and introduction of stan-dard operating procedures in the form of fivemanuals. These manuals are covering all as-pects of enforcement functions of the SECP.The SECP has also introduced new future con-tracts at the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Lim-ited in sugar, wheat, crude oil, silver and goldthat aimed to fulfill the hedging requirements ofvarious groups of investors in the newly devel-oped commodities market.The Corporate Law Review Commission wasalso revived and a reform committee was con-stituted to furnish recommendations for thepromotion and growth of a sustainable non-banking financial sector. In addition, the Codeof Corporate Governance 2012 has also been in-troduced revising the existing requirements andmaking it more in line with international bestpractices.Moreover, the capital market investor educationand awareness programme was launched inJuly 2012. It is aimed at making people aware ofvarious financial products and understandingtheir rights and responsibilities to enable themto make informed investment decision. The re-vised Code of Corporate Governance waslaunched in April 2012. And a similar code forthe state-owned enterprises is being finalised.In May 2012, the Chairman SECP MuhammadAli was elected to the executive board of the In-ternational Organisation of Securities Commis-sion (IOSCO). Set up in 1983, the IOSCO is aMadrid-headquartered organisation with 182members.The World Economic Forum Report finds, aseconomies develop, they increase their demandfor the services provided by financial marketsrelative to those provided by banks, so that fi-nancial markets become comparatively moreimportant as economies grow.
g Share market makes history as central bank keeps easing monetary policy g KSE100 index peaks to
16,005 before closing at record 15,962pts g Benchmark index grew by 3% during October12 g Pakistan equity
market outperforms regional markets with 0.05pc return g Pakistan equities receive $38m against $497m
outflows in region g Analysts foresee another 50-100bps rate-cut by State Bank in Dec
18-Business Pages- 02 November_Layout 1 11/2/2012 4:53 AM Page 1
Friday, 2 November, 2012
Major Gainers
COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERIsland TextileXD 382.87 402.01 402.01 402.01 19.14 400Sanofi-Aventis Pak 285.61 299.89 295.00 299.89 14.28 5,000UniLever Pak 9498.04 9510.00 9510.00 9510.00 11.96 40Wyeth Pak Limited 880.00 890.00 890.00 890.00 10.00 550Colgate Palmolive 1282.08 1290.00 1290.00 1290.00 7.92 50
Major LosersExide (PAK) 332.00 323.05 323.05 323.05 -8.95 100Pak Gum & Chemical 206.68 197.86 196.35 197.86 -8.82 100National FoodsXD 325.69 324.00 310.05 320.00 -5.69 3,700Mithchells Fruit 356.11 351.00 351.00 351.00 -5.11 100Clover PakistanXD 73.96 70.27 70.27 70.27 -3.69 500
Volume Leaders
Maple Leaf Cement 9.14 10.14 9.18 10.13 0.99 25,142,000Fauji Cement 6.40 6.65 6.40 6.44 0.04 11,295,000Azgard Nine 6.97 7.40 7.02 7.13 0.16 9,131,000Dewan Cement 4.67 5.17 4.70 5.11 0.44 8,239,500Jah.Sidd. Co. 14.45 14.87 14.06 14.20 -0.25 7,956,500
Interbank RatesUS Dollar 95.8087UK Pound 154.7597Japanese Yen 1.1973Euro 123.9189
Dollar EastBUY SELL
US Dollar 95.10 95.70Euro 122.04 123.89Great Britain Pound 152.15 154.43Japanese Yen 1.1732 1.1907Canadian Dollar 94.33 96.25Hong Kong Dollar 12.07 12.31UAE Dirham 25.75 26.11Saudi Riyal 25.15 25.47Australian Dollar 97.69 100.61
Business
UBL profits increase by 42% during
first nine months of 2012
KARACHI: United Bank Limited achieved a consoli-dated profit after tax of Rs.15.0 billion forthe firstnine months of 2012, which is 42% higher than thecorresponding period last year. This translates intoearnings per share of Rs. 12.20 (Sep 11: Rs. 8.66). TheBoard of Directors in their meeting held on October31, 2012 also approved an interim cash dividend of20% i.e. Rs.2.00 per share bringing the total cash div-idend to 50 % i.e. Rs. 5.0 per share during 2012. De-spite testing times, UBL hasachieved significantgrowth in profitability through growth in the balancesheet, improved non fund income and lower provi-sions. Thereduction in discount rate during the latterhalf of 2011 as well as 2012 along with the 100 bps in-crease in the minimum rate paid on PLS savings de-posits has resulted in severe spread compression.
Coca-Cola partners with
Mehreen Jabbar for sitcom
KARACHI: Coca-Cola Pakistan and internationallyrenowned director Mehreen Jabbar, have partnered toproduce a creative 13 episode sitcom for television,based on an important social message. The series pro-mote the value of shared meals with family andfriends, with this unique initiative being a part ofCoca-Cola’s larger Coke & Meal campaign. The pri-mary objective of the campaign and of the sitcom, ap-propriately titled Coke Kahani , is to rejuvenate thespirit of shared meals; building on how the simple actof eating together, rather than by oneself, serves tostrengthen bonds,encourages sharing and caring, andinstills a ‘live positively’ attitude towards life in people.
KARACHI: Shahid Javed, Head of Operational Risk & Internal
Control Division - Burj Bank Ltd. addressing at the workshop
on “The role of Information Systems in Compliance and
Controls” organized by COMMECS Institute of Business and
Emerging Sciences (CIBES) recently.
Waqar Malik retiring
from ICI on Dec 27
KARACHI: Waqar Malik, the chief executive officer ofICI Pakistan Limited, and the former chairman of Pak-istan PTA has decided to retire from ICI Pakistan Lim-ited as chief executive with effect from December 27,2012 after more than 27years of distinguished servicewith the ICI Group and thereafter the Akzo NobelGroup.Mr Malik has also decided to step down from theBoard of ICI Pakistan Limited and the Board of its sub-sidiary, ICI PowerGen. The Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of ICI Pakistan Limited said, “Mr Malik wasappointed to the Board of ICI Pakistan Limited in 2002and became its Chief Executive Officer in October 2005.He is an outstanding leader who has transformed thecorporate culture of ICI Pakistan and achieved remark-able success for the Company, its employees, and share-holders in very challenging times over the last 7 years.On behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for hisoutstanding contribution to the development and fu-ture of ICI Pakistan Limited. He leaves behind a greatlegacy and I wish him the very best.”
BISP adopts innovative mechanisms
based on transparency
ISLAMABAD: The transparent methodology em-ployed by Benazir Income Support Programme(BISP) to provide innovative solutions are highly ap-preciable as it has enabled the programme to servethe people in an effective manner. H.E. AdamThompson, British High Commissioner in Pakistansaid during a meeting with Federal Minister andChairperson BISP Madame Farzana Raja here atBISP Secretariat on Thursday. Mr. Alexis Ferrand,Economic Advisor Economic Growth Group, DFIDwas also present during the meeting. Besides otherareas of mutual and national interests, Waseela-e-Taleem (Right to Education) programme of BISPcame under detailed discussion during the meetingwhich is basically aiming at promotion of education ingeneral and imparting education to the children frompoor families in particular.
PTCL Broadband 2Mbps now
comes at the price of 1Mbps
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s largest integratedtelecommunications company, Pakistan Telecommu-nication Company Ltd (PTCL) has brought an excit-ing offer for its broadband customers. PTCLBroadband customers can now avail 2Mbps speed atonly Rs 1,250 per month, the existing price of 1Mbpsconnection. This offer is valid for both existing andnew customers “At PTCL we believe in rewarding ourvalued customers with latest communication solutionat the most affordable rates” said Senior ExecutiveVice President (SEVP) commercial, Naveed Saeed.“This offer allows customers to experience the hyper
fast speeds of Broadband internet at lowest possiblerates” This promotional package will expire on 1stJanuary 2013 and standard 2 Mbps rates of Rs. 1,499per month will apply after that.
LAHORE: Allied Bank Group Head Khawaja Almas addresses
clients at the new Allied Bank branch at Model Town.
Etihad Airways partners with LRBT
KARACHI: November 01, 2012 – Etihad Airways,the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, haspartnered with the Layton Rahmatulla BenevolentTrust (LRBT), one of Pakistan’s largest non-govern-mental organizations, for the transport of human eyecorneal tissue from Canada and the UK.As part of its efforts to fight blindness in the country,LRBT aims to provide free and comprehensive eye-care to poor and underprivileged citizens. This is donethrough its network of 17 purpose-built hospitalswhich provide a range of services including advancedretinal surgery and corneal transplants.
CORPORATE CORNER
TOKYO
AGENCIES
ASIAN shares fell onThursday as China’sofficial and privatesector manufactur-ing PMIs confirmed
a recovering growth trend. China’sOctober official PMI rose to 50.2in October from 49.8 in Septem-ber, almost matching a forecast50.3, pointing to expanded factoryactivity in the world’s second-largest economy.
The final reading of the HSBCPMI hit an 8-month high of 49.5.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pa-cific shares outside Japan fell 0.5percent after ending October witha 0.5 percent gain, in contrast toSeptember’s 5.6 percent rise.
The manufacturing datashowed mild improvement in Chi-nese factory activity helped theindex trim losses slightly.
“The return of PMI above 50
suggests economic momentumhas indeed picked up. It indicatesthe effect of policy easing mayhave been stronger than the con-sensus expected,” Zhiwei Zhang of
Nomura wrote in a commentemailed to Reuters.
A Tokyo-based currencytrader said markets may not takethe figures at face value as they be-
lieve the Chinese authoritieswould not tolerate a bad numberahead of a once-in-a-decade lead-ership transition which starts totake place this month.
Australian shares dropped 0.8percent as miners and banks re-treated, while South Koreanshares slipped 1 percent, weighedby data showing the country’s
manufacturing sector in Octobershrank for a fifth consecutivemonth, although the pace of de-cline slowed.
The reaction in the Australiandollar, which is sensitive to datafrom China, its largest export des-tination, was limited with the cur-rency steadying at $1.0370.
“Overall sentiment is brighten-ing and Chinese orders are suggest-ing a moderate recovery,” saidHirokazu Yuihama, a senior strate-gist at Daiwa Securities. “But globalmonetary easing has strengthenedcurrencies of South Korea and Tai-wan, where interest rates are rela-tively higher, hurting theirexport-led economies and offset-ting the general improvement.”
Inflation reports from Indone-sia and Thailand and India’s
PMI are among other Asiandata due during Thursday’s ses-sion. Taiwan’s October PMI im-proved to a four-month high as afall in new export orders slowed.
Oil down in AsiaSINGAPORE
AFP
Oil was down in Asia Thursday as crude supply was bolstered bythe resumption of operations by refineries on the US east coastfollowing superstorm Sandy, analysts said. New York’s maincontract, light sweet crude for December delivery, shed 27 centsto $85.97 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in De-cember dipped 34 cents to $108.36. Crude prices fell “as severalkey east coast refineries and pipelines restored operations andtraders bet on an enormous hit to demand for fuel,” Phillip Fu-tures said in a report. Refineries, together with the New YorkStock Exchange and Nasdaq exchange, had shut before Sandystruck but resumed business on Wednesday despite widespreadpower outages. However, downstream energy demand was ex-pected to remain weak for several days as authorities struggledto repair damage. US media reports said 63 Americans had beenconfirmed dead across 15 storm-ravaged states, bringing Sandy’soverall toll to 135 including Canada and the Caribbean, whereHaiti and Cuba were hit particularly hard.
Asian shares fall, despiteimproving China PMI
ISLAMABAD
ONLINE
Pakistan-Japan private sector should come for-ward and play their vital role for enhancing tradeand economic relations between two countries aslevel of overall trade between the two countriesis much less than the desired potential.
Farrukh Amil, Pakistan’s Ambassador-desig-nate to Japan said while visiting IslamabadChamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) todiscuss bilateral relation between Pakistan andJapan before his departure to Japan.
He said that Pakistan being the agrariancountry, needs to utilize its full potential in theagriculture sector by adopting modern farmingtechniques which would increase per yield pro-duction of agro-products.
Farrukh Amil said that Pakistan has great po-tential for the exports of fruits and vegetables inthe international market and stressed that rele-vant departments should regularly organize pro-
grams inviting the representatives from whole-sale fruit and vegetable market to give themtraining on packaging and international market-ing. In his welcome address, Mr.ZafarBakhtawari, President ICCI congratulated theAmbassador designate on his appointment andsaid that Pakistan-Japan trade relations could beenhanced and strengthened through joint ven-tures, technology transfer, and investment coop-eration.
ICCI President also impressed upon the needthat Pakistani embassies in all around the worldshould adopt friendly-visa polices which wouldultimately attract more foreign investors andbusinessmen to visit Pakistan and invest in theareas of their interest. Mr.Bakhtawari was of theview that there is dire need to enhance directlinkages between the both countries through di-rect flights which would stimulate mutual rela-tions. He said that PIA has been facing hugelosses for last many years as it had lost severaldestinations due to tight-visa policies.
Call for reviewingpurchase price of sugar
LAHORE
APP
Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) has de-manded of the Chief Minister Punjabto review the recently announced min-imum purchase price of sugarcane.In a press release issued on Thursday,KBP President Sardar Zafar Hussainhas stated that fresh sugarcane’s mini-mum purchase price of Rs 170 per 40Kg is far less than the “input cost” in-curred by the growers. He also regretted that sugar millshave not made payments for last sea-son’s purchase.Zafar has urged that minimum pur-chase price of sugarcane for the sea-son 2012-13 be reviewed andannounced after ascertaining expendi-tures borne by farmers on per acreproduction.
‘pakistan, Japan have hugebilateral trade potential’
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