Wednesday, 8 August , 2012 NEWS DESK S HARES of Standard Chartered have tumbled despite the bank denying allegations that it ille- gally “schemed” with Iran to launder money. Shares were down 20% by lunchtime in London, after falling 16% in Hong Kong. The UK-based bank laundered as much as $250bn (£161bn) over nearly a decade. It said the bank hid transactions for “Iranian financial institutions” that were subject to US economic sanctions. The regulator said that Standard Chartered had hidden 60,000 such secret transactions. How- ever, the bank that it “strongly rejects the position or portrayal of facts as set out in the order” issued by the regulator. ‘Not a full picture’: The US reg- ulator labelled UK-based Standard Char- tered a “rogue institution” and ordered the bank to “explain these apparent vio- lations of law” from 2001 to 2010. It accused Standard Chartered of falsify- ing payment directions by stripping the mes- sage of unwanted data that showed the clients were Iranian, replacing it with false entries. “It provided step-by-step, wire-strip- ping instructions for any payment mes- sages containing information that would identify Iranian clients,” the complaint said. The regulator also said that it would hold a formal hearing over the “assess- ment of monetary penalties”. The bank, which currently only operates in the US in New York, has also been threatened with having its New York banking licence revoked. The regulator also pointed the finger at consultancy firm Deloitte, sug- gesting it could have aided Standard Chartered in its alleged deception. accouNt freeze: Standard Char- tered also said the order issued by the US regulator did not present “a full and ac- curate picture of the facts”. It said that it had conducted a review of its transactions, primarily those relat- ing to Iran for the period between 2001 to 2007, and had given regular updates to the US authorities on the results of the in- vestigation. “As we have disclosed to the authorities, well over 99.9% of the trans- actions relating to Iran complied with U- turn regulations,” the bank said. “The total value of transactions which did not follow the U-turn was under $14m.” The so-called U-turn transactions are those started outside the US by non-Iran- ian foreign banks that pass through the US financial system on the way to other non-Iranian foreign banks. To ascertain whether these transac- tions are permitted or not under current regulations, US clearing banks use the wire-transfer messages they get from the banks involved. If the banks do not have enough information, they are supposed to freeze the assets. Senior management were also said to have codified their illegal procedures in formal operating manuals, including one labelled “Quality Operating Procedure Iranian Bank Processing”. Penelope Lepeudry, managing direc- tor of Kroll Advisory Solutions, a consult- ing firm specialising in financial investi- gations, told the BBC that “if the allega- tions are confirmed, this is a very serious development”. other SchemeS fouNd: The reg- ulator said it had also uncovered evidence with respect to what are apparently simi- lar schemes to conduct business with other countries under sanctions - Libya, Burma and Sudan. “Investigation of these additional matters is ongoing,” it added. The regulator said that its nine-month investigation, which involved looking through more than 30,000 pages of doc- uments, including internal bank emails, showed that the bank reaped “hundreds of millions of dollars in fees”. ‘StaggeriNg cover-up’: In nu- merous emails going back as far as 1995, Standard Chartered’s lawyers advised on ways to go about circumventing US sanc- tions. In March 2001, the bank’s legal ad- viser counselled that “our payment instructions [for Iranian clients] should not identify the client or the purpose of the payment”. Among the violations of the law, the bank is accused of: 8 falsifying business records 8 failing to maintain accurate books and records 8 failing to report misconduct to the regulator in a timely manner 8 evading federal sanctions The US Treasury, which implements the sanctions, said that it treated viola- tions “extremely seriously”. Courtesy: BBC News Standard Chartered shares plunge on laundering charges ISLAMABAD APP The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Finance directed Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to control smuggling of plastic granules (dana) into the country and called for taking ap- propriate steps in this regard. Chairing the committee, Khawaja Suhail Man- soor said that loss of billions of rupees had been in- curred due to the smuggling. “More than 20,000 bags of Plastic granules per day were being smuggled from Iran to as deep as the city of Lahore but FBR has not taken any step against the menace,” he added. The committee also suggested that a directive should be issued by FBR to officials deputed at La- hore office to take action against the issues and if the appropriate action is not taken by the con- cerned officials, the staff should be replaced. It was also directed to FBR that the awareness should be made regarding Plastic granules among the public to support the officials. “The FBR is doing its the best to control such menace, besides we are facing resources constraint and shortage of staff deputed there, Custom FBR Member “, Muhammad Riaz said while speaking in the committee. The FBR will use its all resources available to control it, he said while assuring the committee. The committee directed FBR to come up with viable proposals to the Standing Committee for its support to increase the capacity in order to im- prove the performance of Directorate of Intelli- gence and Evaluation and the Committee also directed the FBR to gear up its efforts to control the smuggling especially on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan with Pakistan. KHARTOUM AGENCIES Sudan’s currency rose against the dollar on the key black market on Monday for the first time in several months after the government reached an agreement with South Sudan on oil fees, dealers said. The Sudanese pound has been in freefall since South Sudan took away three- quarters of oil production when it became independent a year ago, creating an economic crisis in Sudan. As well as being a major source of revenue for Sudan, oil also provided dollars badly needed for imports. As the currency has plunged, annual inflation hit 37.2 percent in June, more than double the level of a year earlier and due mainly to the higher cost of imports as the country imports much of its food. High inflation has triggered small anti-government protests. Sudan and South Sudan agreed at the weekend on how much the landlocked new nation has to pay to route its crude through northern pipelines, ending a row that led to the shutdown of the entire southern output of 350,000 barrels a day in January. Black market traders said the Sudanese pound had risen to rates of between 5.7 and 5.9 to the dollar, compared to 6.2 last week on hopes that oil flows bringing in dollars would resume soon. Current rates are still well below the official rate between 4.3 and 4.7. “It’s so far psychology,” said one dealer, adding that dollar supplies had also increased because many Sudanese working abroad had returned to visit their families during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “It remains to be seen whether the dollar supply situation will really improve,” the dealer said. The central bank devalued the pound last month by almost halving its value to try bridge a gap to the black market rate, which has become the benchmark for companies. It is not clear when South Sudan’s oil exports through Sudan will resume as Khartoum is insisting on reaching a border security deal first, a tricky issue as both sides accuse each other of supporting rebels in the other’s territory. BRING ON THE PLASTIC SMILES! NA body directs FBR to control smuggling of plastic granules Sudan’s pounds rise after oil deal with S. Sudan ISLAMABAD ONLINE In Rs 47 billion tax evasion case, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued notices to five telecom companies to appear before investigation team on August 9, 2012. Under section 25 (a) of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, NAB has highlighted the option of Voluntary Return (VR) to these telecom companies and has given three days dead line to pay their liabilities along-with default surcharge and penalty as determined by tax authorities. Through these notices the companies have also been informed that in case of failure this option of VR will no more be available and these telecom companies will have to opt for Plea Bargain under section 25(b) of NAO with all punitive measures under NAB Ordinance. On July 11, 2012 NAB summoned five telecom companies (National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), Pakistan Telecom Mobile Company Ltd. (PTML), Telenor, Pakistan Mobile Communication Ltd. (PMCL) and Warid) for recording of their statements in the case. NAB investigation team had taken over relevant record into custody from FBR’s Chief Commissioner Large Tax Unit. Countdown to investigation KARACHI ISMAIL DILAWAR The resource-constrained Government of Pakistan seems least bothered to behave frugally when it comes to spending the hard-earned but still insufficient dollars it reserves as foreign exchange in the na- tional kitty. This is evident from the fact that whereas the huge $ 40 billion imports in FY12 widened the cash-strapped country’s trade balance to a massive $ 15 billion, Is- lamabad still tends towards throwing bil- lions of dollars after fertiliser imports instead of capitalizing on domestic sources offering relatively economical options. During the year under review the country could export goods worth only $ 24.6 bil- lion, down $ 701 million compared to $ 25.3 billion of last financial year. This mammoth trade deficit in last fiscal year expanded the country’s current account gap to a whooping $ 4.5 billion against a $ 214 million surplus in FY11. The economic observers agree that given the prevailing pressure on external front, the funds-starved government should be more averse to imports and take necessary steps to increase in de- clining exports. The government is doing the contrary, however. Whereas lower than expected monsoon rains have made the environmentalists foresee an econ- omy-crippling drought in coming months and the local producers are warning of a serious demand-driven fertiliser crisis in the gas-scarce country, the government is all out to go for capital-intensive short- cuts like importing the farm essential that, it believes, cannot be managed eas- ily at home. Having imported fertiliser worth over $ 600 million so far during this year (CY12), the dollar-starved eco- nomic mangers are intent to import more of the agriculture input worth $ 500 mil- lion in the months ahead. According to industry sources, the im- ported urea is much more expensive than what is produced locally. Each bag costs the farmers Rs 1,368 or 48 percent more. They said the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, in its May 21st tender, retailed each bag of the imported urea at Rs 2,851 compared to Rs 1,483 of that manufac- tured in Pakistan. This vast gap in prices has been bridged by the subsidy-prone political government through subsidising the imported commodity to the tune of Rs 40 billion, approximately. The fertiliser manufacturers claim to have provided a benefit of Rs 504 billion to the inflation- stricken farmers by offering cheaper urea during last five years. “This benefit is be- cause locally produced urea is nearly half the price of imported urea and the indus- try passed this saving on to the farmers,” said a manufacturer. “This is the short-sighted approach of the government to have been tilted more towards the imported fertiliser,” viewed of Engro Corporation President and owner of Engro Fertilisers Muhammad Aliuddin Ansari. Ansari in a recent talk with a group of selected journalists, said if not done away with this imports-centric logic would soon make the country end up with importing even food items like wheat. “To me, this is the greatest danger for Pakistan as the day our food security exhausts we would have to go for food im- ports that would put us in a sort of vicious circle,” he noted with concern. In fact, the Engro chief said, the cash- strapped government was going for op- tions that could provide it with some space in terms of payments. “Since the imported urea is bought on credit the government is opting for it, but what when this credit limit would exhaust?” he asked and replied “Your farmer would be without fertiliser (that is) a basic agriculture input.” The cur- rent demand for fertiliser, a critical ingre- dient for agricultural productivity that contributes 21 percent in the country’s Gross Domestic Product, ranges from 5.5 to 6 million tonnes against the 7 million tonnes installed capacity which has nose- dived to 4.3 million tonnes due to gas cur- tailment to the manufacturers. Is importing urea economical for Pakistan? NAB gives three days to telecom companies in tax evasion case g Government’s spending on import of agriculture input touches $1.1bn g Imported urea retailed at Rs2851 per bag, up 48pc from Rs1483 of locally manufactured g Cash-strapped government’s subsidies on imported urea stand at Rs40bn g Manufacturers say imports nothing but short sightedness of government g Industries suffering from gas scarcity that cut its production capacity to 4.3mn from 7mn tons PRO 08-08-2012_Layout 1 8/7/2012 11:48 PM Page 1
profitepaper pakistantoday 08th august, 2012
Mar 22, 2016
profitepaper pakistantoday 08th august, 2012
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Wednesday, 8 August, 2012
NEWS DESK
SHARES of Standard Charteredhave tumbled despite the bankdenying allegations that it ille-gally “schemed” with Iran tolaunder money.
Shares were down 20% by lunchtimein London, after falling 16% in Hong Kong.The UK-based bank laundered as much as$250bn (£161bn) over nearly a decade. Itsaid the bank hid transactions for “Iranianfinancial institutions” that were subject toUS economic sanctions. The regulator saidthat Standard Chartered had hidden60,000 such secret transactions. How-ever, the bank that it “strongly rejects theposition or portrayal of facts as set out inthe order” issued by the regulator.‘Not a full picture’: The US reg-ulator labelled UK-based Standard Char-tered a “rogue institution” and orderedthe bank to “explain these apparent vio-lations of law” from 2001 to 2010.
It accused Standard Chartered of falsify-
ing payment directions by stripping the mes-sage of unwanted data that showed the clientswere Iranian, replacing it with false entries.
“It provided step-by-step, wire-strip-ping instructions for any payment mes-sages containing information that wouldidentify Iranian clients,” the complaintsaid. The regulator also said that it wouldhold a formal hearing over the “assess-ment of monetary penalties”. The bank,which currently only operates in the USin New York, has also been threatenedwith having its New York banking licencerevoked. The regulator also pointed thefinger at consultancy firm Deloitte, sug-gesting it could have aided StandardChartered in its alleged deception.accouNt freeze: Standard Char-tered also said the order issued by the USregulator did not present “a full and ac-curate picture of the facts”.
It said that it had conducted a reviewof its transactions, primarily those relat-ing to Iran for the period between 2001to 2007, and had given regular updates to
the US authorities on the results of the in-vestigation. “As we have disclosed to theauthorities, well over 99.9% of the trans-actions relating to Iran complied with U-turn regulations,” the bank said. “Thetotal value of transactions which did notfollow the U-turn was under $14m.”
The so-called U-turn transactions arethose started outside the US by non-Iran-ian foreign banks that pass through theUS financial system on the way to othernon-Iranian foreign banks.
To ascertain whether these transac-tions are permitted or not under currentregulations, US clearing banks use thewire-transfer messages they get from thebanks involved. If the banks do not haveenough information, they are supposed tofreeze the assets. Senior managementwere also said to have codified their illegalprocedures in formal operating manuals,including one labelled “Quality OperatingProcedure Iranian Bank Processing”.
Penelope Lepeudry, managing direc-tor of Kroll Advisory Solutions, a consult-
ing firm specialising in financial investi-gations, told the BBC that “if the allega-tions are confirmed, this is a very seriousdevelopment”.other SchemeS fouNd: The reg-ulator said it had also uncovered evidencewith respect to what are apparently simi-lar schemes to conduct business withother countries under sanctions - Libya,Burma and Sudan. “Investigation of theseadditional matters is ongoing,” it added.
The regulator said that its nine-monthinvestigation, which involved lookingthrough more than 30,000 pages of doc-uments, including internal bank emails,showed that the bank reaped “hundredsof millions of dollars in fees”. ‘StaggeriNg cover-up’: In nu-merous emails going back as far as 1995,
Standard Chartered’s lawyers advised onways to go about circumventing US sanc-tions. In March 2001, the bank’s legal ad-viser counselled that “our paymentinstructions [for Iranian clients] shouldnot identify the client or the purpose ofthe payment”.
Among the violations of the law, thebank is accused of:8 falsifying business records8 failing to maintain accurate books
and records8 failing to report misconduct to the
regulator in a timely manner8 evading federal sanctions
The US Treasury, which implementsthe sanctions, said that it treated viola-tions “extremely seriously”.
Courtesy: BBC News
Standard Chartered shares
plunge on laundering charges
ISLAMABAD
APP
The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committeeon Finance directed Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) to control smuggling of plastic granules(dana) into the country and called for taking ap-propriate steps in this regard.
Chairing the committee, Khawaja Suhail Man-soor said that loss of billions of rupees had been in-curred due to the smuggling.
“More than 20,000 bags of Plastic granules perday were being smuggled from Iran to as deep asthe city of Lahore but FBR has not taken any stepagainst the menace,” he added.
The committee also suggested that a directiveshould be issued by FBR to officials deputed at La-hore office to take action against the issues and ifthe appropriate action is not taken by the con-
cerned officials, the staff should be replaced.It was also directed to FBR that the awareness
should be made regarding Plastic granules amongthe public to support the officials.
“The FBR is doing its the best to control suchmenace, besides we are facing resources constraintand shortage of staff deputed there, Custom FBRMember “, Muhammad Riaz said while speaking inthe committee.
The FBR will use its all resources available tocontrol it, he said while assuring the committee.
The committee directed FBR to come up withviable proposals to the Standing Committee for itssupport to increase the capacity in order to im-prove the performance of Directorate of Intelli-gence and Evaluation and the Committee alsodirected the FBR to gear up its efforts to control thesmuggling especially on the borders of Iran andAfghanistan with Pakistan.
KHARTOUM
AGENCIES
Sudan’s currency rose against the dollaron the key black market on Monday forthe first time in several months after thegovernment reached an agreement withSouth Sudan on oil fees, dealers said.The Sudanese pound has been in freefallsince South Sudan took away three-quarters of oil production when it becameindependent a year ago, creating aneconomic crisis in Sudan. As well as beinga major source of revenue for Sudan, oilalso provided dollars badly needed forimports. As the currency has plunged,annual inflation hit 37.2 percent in June,more than double the level of a year earlierand due mainly to the higher cost ofimports as the country imports much of itsfood. High inflation has triggered smallanti-government protests. Sudan andSouth Sudan agreed at the weekend on howmuch the landlocked new nation has to payto route its crude through northernpipelines, ending a row that led to theshutdown of the entire southern output of350,000 barrels a day in January. Blackmarket traders said the Sudanese poundhad risen to rates of between 5.7 and 5.9 tothe dollar, compared to 6.2 last week onhopes that oil flows bringing in dollarswould resume soon. Current rates are stillwell below the official rate between 4.3 and4.7. “It’s so far psychology,” said one dealer,adding that dollar supplies had alsoincreased because many Sudanese workingabroad had returned to visit their familiesduring the Muslim holy month ofRamadan. “It remains to be seen whetherthe dollar supply situation will reallyimprove,” the dealer said. The central bankdevalued the pound last month by almosthalving its value to try bridge a gap to theblack market rate, which has become thebenchmark for companies. It is not clearwhen South Sudan’s oil exports throughSudan will resume as Khartoum is insistingon reaching a border security deal first, atricky issue as both sides accuse each otherof supporting rebels in the other’s territory.
BRING ON THEPLASTIC SMILES!NA body directs FBR to control smuggling of plastic granules
Sudan’s poundsrise after oil dealwith S. Sudan ISLAMABAD
ONLINE
In Rs 47 billion tax evasion case, the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) has issued notices to fivetelecom companies to appear before investigation team onAugust 9, 2012. Under section 25 (a) of NationalAccountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, NAB hashighlighted the option of Voluntary Return (VR) to thesetelecom companies and has given three days dead line topay their liabilities along-with default surcharge andpenalty as determined by tax authorities. Through thesenotices the companies have also been informed that in caseof failure this option of VR will no more be available andthese telecom companies will have to opt for Plea Bargainunder section 25(b) of NAO with all punitive measuresunder NAB Ordinance. On July 11, 2012 NAB summonedfive telecom companies (National TelecommunicationCorporation (NTC), Pakistan Telecom Mobile CompanyLtd. (PTML), Telenor, Pakistan Mobile CommunicationLtd. (PMCL) and Warid) for recording of their statementsin the case. NAB investigation team had taken over relevantrecord into custody from FBR’s Chief Commissioner LargeTax Unit.
Countdown to investigation
KARACHI
ISMAIL DILAWAR
The resource-constrained Government ofPakistan seems least bothered to behavefrugally when it comes to spending thehard-earned but still insufficient dollarsit reserves as foreign exchange in the na-tional kitty.
This is evident from the fact thatwhereas the huge $ 40 billion imports inFY12 widened the cash-strapped country’strade balance to a massive $ 15 billion, Is-lamabad still tends towards throwing bil-lions of dollars after fertiliser importsinstead of capitalizing on domestic sourcesoffering relatively economical options.During the year under review the countrycould export goods worth only $ 24.6 bil-lion, down $ 701 million compared to $25.3 billion of last financial year.
This mammoth trade deficit in lastfiscal year expanded the country’s currentaccount gap to a whooping $ 4.5 billionagainst a $ 214 million surplus in FY11.
The economic observers agree thatgiven the prevailing pressure on externalfront, the funds-starved governmentshould be more averse to imports andtake necessary steps to increase in de-clining exports. The government is doingthe contrary, however. Whereas lowerthan expected monsoon rains have madethe environmentalists foresee an econ-omy-crippling drought in coming monthsand the local producers are warning of aserious demand-driven fertiliser crisis inthe gas-scarce country, the government isall out to go for capital-intensive short-cuts like importing the farm essentialthat, it believes, cannot be managed eas-ily at home. Having imported fertiliserworth over $ 600 million so far duringthis year (CY12), the dollar-starved eco-nomic mangers are intent to import moreof the agriculture input worth $ 500 mil-lion in the months ahead.
According to industry sources, the im-ported urea is much more expensive thanwhat is produced locally. Each bag costs
the farmers Rs 1,368 or 48 percent more.They said the Trading Corporation of
Pakistan, in its May 21st tender, retailedeach bag of the imported urea at Rs 2,851compared to Rs 1,483 of that manufac-tured in Pakistan. This vast gap in priceshas been bridged by the subsidy-pronepolitical government through subsidisingthe imported commodity to the tune of Rs40 billion, approximately. The fertilisermanufacturers claim to have provided abenefit of Rs 504 billion to the inflation-stricken farmers by offering cheaper ureaduring last five years. “This benefit is be-cause locally produced urea is nearly halfthe price of imported urea and the indus-try passed this saving on to the farmers,”said a manufacturer.
“This is the short-sighted approach ofthe government to have been tilted moretowards the imported fertiliser,” viewedof Engro Corporation President andowner of Engro Fertilisers MuhammadAliuddin Ansari. Ansari in a recent talkwith a group of selected journalists, said
if not done away with this imports-centriclogic would soon make the country endup with importing even food items likewheat. “To me, this is the greatest dangerfor Pakistan as the day our food securityexhausts we would have to go for food im-ports that would put us in a sort of viciouscircle,” he noted with concern.
In fact, the Engro chief said, the cash-strapped government was going for op-tions that could provide it with some spacein terms of payments. “Since the importedurea is bought on credit the government isopting for it, but what when this creditlimit would exhaust?” he asked and replied“Your farmer would be without fertiliser(that is) a basic agriculture input.” The cur-rent demand for fertiliser, a critical ingre-dient for agricultural productivity thatcontributes 21 percent in the country’sGross Domestic Product, ranges from 5.5to 6 million tonnes against the 7 milliontonnes installed capacity which has nose-dived to 4.3 million tonnes due to gas cur-tailment to the manufacturers.
Is importing urea economical for Pakistan?
NAB gives three days to telecomcompanies in tax evasion case
g Government’s spending on import of agriculture input touches $1.1bn g Imported urea retailed atRs2851 per bag, up 48pc from Rs1483 of locally manufactured g Cash-strapped government’s subsidies onimported urea stand at Rs40bn g Manufacturers say imports nothing but short sightedness of governmentg Industries suffering from gas scarcity that cut its production capacity to 4.3mn from 7mn tons
PRO 08-08-2012_Layout 1 8/7/2012 11:48 PM Page 1
02
Wednesday, 8 August, 2012
Major Gainers
COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERMillat Tractors 528.80 553.80 527.25 551.63 22.83 224,300Atlas Battery Ltd. 249.86 262.35 250.90 262.35 12.49 52,000Exide (PAK) XD 214.93 225.67 225.67 225.67 10.74 9,300Ismail Industr 139.80 145.90 145.90 145.90 6.10 500Island Textile 213.80 218.90 204.00 218.90 5.10 1,400
Major LosersShezan Inter. 269.00 258.02 255.93 256.00 -13.00 900Fazal Textile 197.37 190.00 187.51 187.51 -9.86 500Siemens Pakistan 796.00 796.00 790.00 790.00 -6.00 250National Foods 229.90 230.00 224.50 224.93 -4.97 4,600Philip Morris Pak. 138.63 137.50 135.00 135.03 -3.60 2,500
Volume Leaders
Jah.Sidd. Co. 14.71 14.82 14.36 14.45 -0.26 2,743,000Engro Corporation 88.71 91.50 87.37 89.82 1.11 2,557,100Quice Food 11.24 12.24 11.50 12.23 0.99 2,363,500National Bank Pak 44.36 44.58 43.76 43.88 -0.48 1,848,500Maple Leaf Cement 6.67 6.92 6.55 6.86 0.19 1,723,000
Interbank RatesUS Dollar 94.2462UK Pound 147.1749Japanese Yen 1.2021Euro 116.8842
Dollar EastBUY SELL
US Dollar 94.00 94.80Euro 115.99 117.05Great Britain Pound 145.76 147.05Japanese Yen 1.1906 1.2010Canadian Dollar 93.20 94.53Hong Kong Dollar 11.96 12.13UAE Dirham 25.53 25.73Saudi Riyal 25.03 25.18
Australian Dollar 98.46 100.78
Business
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
oN Tuesday an ever so slight bear-ish trend arrived in KarachiStock Exchange (KSE) 100-shareas the index declined 01.53points or 0.001 percent to close
at 14, 672.24 points as compared to 14, 673.77points of the previous session. The KSE 30-shareindex shed 03.91 points to close at 12, 625.46points as compared with 12, 629.37 points.
The Pakistan Stocks closed lower amid thinvolumes ahead of major earning announce-ments due this week on cautious activity aheadof SBP Policy announcement, viewed by AhsanMehanti, Director at Arif Habib InvestmentsLimited. The market turnover was remain neg-ative and decreased to 44.962 million sharesafter opening at 58.117 million shares. The over-all market capitalization declined 0.02 percentand traded Rs 3.747 trillion as against Rs 3.749trillion. Losers outnumbered gainers 155 to 105,while 31 stocks were unchanged.
Mehanti added “Concerns for rising circulardebt in Pakistan Energy sector, decline in ce-ment dispatches, power shortfall for industrialsector and expected fall in fertilizer prices
played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments de-spite recovery in global stocks and commoditieson Euro zone stimulus hopes and improved USjob data.”
The KMI 30-share was up by 43.52 points toclose at 25, 484.33 points from its opening at 25,440.81 points. The KSE all-share index closedwith a loss of 3.77 points to 10, 323.05 points asagainst 10, 326.82 points.
Jahangir Siddiqui Company was the volumeleader in the share market with 2.743 millionshares as it closed at Rs 14.45 after opening atRs 14.71. Engro Corporation traded 2.557 mil-lion shares as it closed at Rs 89.82 after openingRs 88.71. Quice Food traded 2.363 millionshares as it closed at Rs 12.23 from its openingat Rs 11.24. National Bank Pakistan traded1.848 million shares and closed at Rs 43.88 asagainst its opening at Rs 44.36. Maple Leaf Ce-ment traded 1.723 million shares as it closed atRs 6.86 as compared to its opening at Rs 6.67.
On the future market, the turnover remainednegative to 3.216 million against 3.664 millionshares of first working day of the week Monday.The Millat Tractors and Atlas Battery Limited,up Rs 22.83 and Rs 12.49, led highest price gain-ers while, Shezan Inter and Fazal Textile downRs 13.00 and Rs 9.86 respectively, led the losers.
100th Implementation of SAP BusinessOne ERP solutions in Pakistan
KARACHI: SAP Pakistan celebrated one hundred successfulimplementations of SAP Business One ERP systems in Pak-istan. The implementations were supported by AbacusConsulting, partner of SAP in Pakistan. PRESS RELEASE
Etihad Airways and Aer Lingus unveil code share detailsKARACHI: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UnitedArab Emirates, and Aer Lingus have signed an historic inter-line and code share agreement which follows the UAE na-tional airline’s recent 2.987 per cent equity purchase in theIrish carrier. PRESS RELEASE
Bahria Town’s 3-D Cinema ‘The Arena’RAWALPINDI: The Arena is Pakistan’s first Gold Class Digital3-D Cinema, situated in phase 4 of Bahria Town, Rawalpindi. Aone of its kind unique cinema of international standards, TheArena has gained tremendous popularity in a very short timeand has become the favorite hangout for the film buffs of twincities in just a couple of months. PRESS RELEASE
DHL wins ‘Best Place to Work’ awardKARACHI: DHL Express Pakistan has won the ‘Best Placeto Work’ award with about 9 out of every 10 employeesdisplaying a positive attitude and commitment to the com-pany, which is 30% higher than the global engagementstandard. PRESS RELEASE
CORPORATE CORNER
Tetra Pak Pakistan , Communication Director Ayesha Eirabie and ChiefGuest, Environment & Climate Change unit, Assistant Country Director, GulNajam Jamy pose for a photo with winners of the Tetra Pak Media Awards.The awards aim to create a deeper awareness about food safety andenvironmental issues in Pakistan.
MCB Bank declaresanother dividend asprofits cross Rs 17b
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
The Board of Directors of the MCB Bankhave declared second interim cash divi-dend of Rs 4.0 in addition to first interimcash dividend of Rs 3.0 already paid, saida bank statement Tuesday. The statementmentioned that the bank posted outstand-ing results in the first half with 7pc in-crease in both profit before tax of Rs 17.2billion, and profit after tax of Rs 11.3 bil-lion while non-markup income increasedby 25% to Rs 5.2 billion and net markupincome of the bank was reported at Rs20.9 billion. The Board of Directors metunder the Chairmanship of Mian Moham-mad Mansha, on August 7 to review theperformance of the Bank and approve thefinancial statements for the first halfended June 30, 2012. Earnings per share(EPS) for the period came to Rs. 12.31compared to Rs. 11.49 for June 30, 2011.Return on assets increased to 3.38%, re-turn on equity was recorded at 27.68%and book value per share improved to92.16. Financial position of the Bankstrengthened with Rs. 32.9 billion rise inassets base over December 2011 and wasreported at Rs. 686.1 billion as of June30, 2012. Net investments increased byRs. 11 billion to Rs. 327.5 billion. Grossadvances also increased by Rs. 15.6 billionto Rs. 263.7 billion while the infectionratio improved to 10% (Dec 2011:10.75%). Deposits increased by 8% to Rs.529.4 billion, with 13% increase in currentaccounts, 9% increase in savings accountsand 4% decrease in term deposits. Thisimproved the CASA ratio to 83% com-pared to 81% as of December 31, 2011.
EU’s getting a little too generousfor its own good
BRUSSELS
AGENCIES
The European Union plans to examineways to create an aid buffer for poorcountries that are vulnerable tointernational financial and other shocks,the EU executive said on Monday. Manylow-income countries depend economicallyon commodity exports, which are highlysensitive to factors such as financial marketshocks, and to the weather. To help themsurvive such changes, a special EU fundcould be ready for 2012-2013, theEuropean Commission said. “Thevulnerability of low-income countries toexternal shocks remains high,” theCommission said in a statement.
Index ends flat as forthcoming majorannouncements keep the investors guessing
DEUCE!
SAN FRANCISCO
AGENCIES
Apple Inc’s new version of its iPhone and iPadsoftware will not include a pre-loaded app forGoogle Inc’s popular video website,
YouTube, Apple said on Monday. It was the latest sign of the growing rivalry
between the technology companies the oncewere closely aligned but now are vying for su-premacy in the fast-growing mobile computingmarket. Earlier this year, Apple said it woulddump Google’s mapping software from its mo-bile devices.
“Apple and Google are the mobile operat-ing systems for the future and this is where thebattleground is going to lie,” said Needham &Co analyst Kerry Rice.
“If it’s going to be a two-horse race, youcertainly don’t want to give the other horse anykind of lead,” he said. Google, the world’s No.1Web search engine, is also the maker of themost popular smartphone software with itsAndroid operating system. InMay, Google closed the $12.5billion acquisition of Mo-torola Mobility, settingthe stage for Google tomore tightly integrate itssmartphone software andhardware and mount amore direct challenge toApple’s iPhone.
Apple said in a statementon Monday that its license toinclude the YouTube app in theiOS operating system “has ended.”
Apple noted that “customers can use YouTube inthe Safari browser and Google is working on anew YouTube app to be on the app store.”
An Apple spokeswoman declined to com-ment on whether the company’s YouTube licenseincluded any financial terms, or on whetherApple planned to replace YouTube with anotherpre-installed online video app from a differentcompany. YouTube has been among a handfulof apps that come pre-loaded onto the screens ofApple’s mobile devices since the original iPhone
was introduced in 2007.But the app, which was actually
built by Apple using YouTube’s stan-dards, did not appear to be as full-featured
as YouTube’s own website: theYouTube app does not appearto feature any advertising,
and the catalog of availablemusic videos lacks many of the ti-
tles found on the website.Analysts said Google was un-
likely to take much of a financialhit from the move, though it
could complicate Google’sefforts to expand online
services to the growing ranksof mobile users. “It’s a risk to
Google’s overall mobile approach
and strategy, in that their services are not goingto be as easy to find as they used to be,” saidThinkEquity analyst Ronald Josey.
“They need to be everywhere that usersare.” More worrisome, said Josey, is what themove could mean for Google’s deal with Appleto be the default search engine on the iPhone.
“The writing’s on the wall that when searchis up for renewal, there’s a significant chancethat Google may not be the default,” said Josey.Analysts believe Google generates a significantportion of mobile advertising revenue fromiPhone users. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidtonce sat on Apple’s board of directors, but therelationship between the two companies hasfrayed. Apple’s co-founder, the late Steve Jobs,was quoted as saying he was willing to go “ther-monuclear” on the search leader, after it de-cided to position Android against the iPhone.
News of YouTube’s disappearance fromApple’s mobile software came as Apple re-leased a new test version on Monday of the iOS6 software, which for the first time did not in-clude the YouTube app. The final version of iOS6 is due for release sometime in the Fall.
YouTube is one of the most popular desti-nations on the Internet, with more than 800million unique monthly visitors who stream 4billion videos a day.
SAMSuNG LAuNChES
its super-size Galaxy NoteSEOUL
AGENCIES
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it hadlaunched a super-size version of its Galaxy Note smartphone,the latest salvo in its battle with Apple for the multi-billion-dollar handheld market. The Galaxy Note 10.1, which wenton sale on Monday in Germany and the United Arab Emi-rates, is almost twice as wide as its predecessor and is al-most the size of a tablet. The release comes as Samsungtries to make inroads in the tablet computer market, whichis dominated by Apple’s iPad, while the two electronics gi-ants are also engaged in a bitter court battle over patentinfringements. The firm said the new Note would be offi-cially released in the US on August 15 and sometime nextweek in Britain and South Korea. The Galaxy Note 10.1 —powered by Google’s Android software —features a touch-screen which is 10.1-inches (25.6 centimetres) measureddiagonally, considerably wider than the 5.3-inch screen ofthe previous Note. Like its predecessor, it comes with astylus called the “S pen” to write notes or draw on thescreen. The new version allows users to split the screen in half to view two programs at once. Thenew device is equipped with a quad-core processor that allows users to run multiple applicationsat a faster speed than the previous version, which had a dual-core processor.
Apple won’t includeYouTube app in new mobile software
PRO 08-08-2012_Layout 1 8/7/2012 11:48 PM Page 2
Related Documents
