profit.com.pk Saturday, 26 May, 2012

OH NO!

2 + 2 = 5, IF THE GOVT SAYS SO

All eyes on TAPI

ISLAMABADAMER SIAL

After being informed that the powersubsidy will remain around Rs 300 bil-lion during next fiscal year consideringestimated Rs 350 billion for the cur-rent fiscal year if the required adminis-trative measures were not takenimmediately, the government has di-rected the Ministry of Water andPower (MWP) to recalculate the sub-sidy keeping in mind various tariff sce-narios to finalize their estimate for thenext fiscal year. An official source saidthat the government was informed that

if it did not firm up its political will bypassing on the complete power tariffdifferential to the consumers then thesubsidy would be around Rs 300 bil-lion in the next fiscal year.

To reduce the subsidy, MWP pro-posed that the gas supply of 350mmcfd given to the CNG sector shouldbe immediately diverted to the powersector, which was getting only 175mmcfd as compared to energy summitapproved limit of 207 mmcfd. If thetotal demand of 900 mmcfd for thepower sector was met, MWP assuredthere would be drastic decrease in loadshedding and power subsidy and circu-

lar debt would be zero.However, the source said the gov-

ernment lacked the political will toannoy the powerful lobby of influentialbusiness groups who were getting un-interrupted gas supply for their captivepower plants which were generatingpower at one third cost, as compared tothe current determined tariff.

The source said the Central PowerPurchasing Agency (CPPA) is tasked tocalculate power subsidy under varioustariff scenarios. The final figure islikely to be finalized by May 29 afterapproval from the Ministry of Finance.However, he said the power subsidy

could not be decreased from the cur-rent fiscal year level, if the governmentdid not firm up its resolve to bring inimmediately the identified administra-tive reforms.

The government’s lethargy in in-ducting professional management atthe public sector entities like CPPA,NTDC, DISCOs and GeNCOs were alsohindering the reform process, as theincumbent management were subtlyinvolved in subverting the generationand distribution. The government hadannounced in October last year to com-plete the hiring process for profes-sional management within a month to

expedite the reform process. He said that the historic low water

inflows in rivers which have declinedfrom 140,000 cusecs in mid May lastyear to 45,000 cusecs this year, wasfurther compounding the problem, asmore power was being generated fromexpensive furnace oil power plants.

The government has also failed toimplement the recommendations ofthe energy summit as markets were notclosing at 8 pm. The single step will re-sult in saving of 1400 MW during peakhour load. The demand side manage-ment is needed in the short term tocounter the long black outs at night.

ISLAMABADAMER SIAL

AFTeR signing of the gas sale purchaseagreement by Pakistan and India withTurkmenistan, Bangladesh has also ap-proached the Asian Development Bank

(ADB) for inclusion in the four nation gas pipelineproject. An official source said Bangladesh has writ-ten a letter to ADB showing interest to join the proj-ect. He said there is no issue of gas supply andextending the pipeline to Bangladesh, as Turk-menistan has enough gas reserves.

When asked how much gas Bangladesh was inter-ested to import, he said their demand was less andcould be provided as Afghanistan has refused itsshare. However, he said the pipeline plan will be ini-tially executed between the four participating nationsand Bangladesh could join in later.

About the way forward on the project, he saidthat the project will be built completely by singlesponsor, unlike the Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline

which has a segmented approach. The search for thesponsor has started for the 1800 kilometer longpipeline that is estimated to cost more than $ 7.6 bil-lion. There would be no difficulty in extending thepipeline to 2500 km if Bangladesh joins in, thesource said adding that already upto 7,000 km longpipelines were in operation. After the main sponsoris finalized and financial close achieved, the detailedengineering design will be finalized to complete theproject by mid 2017.

About renegotiation of the IP gas price, thesource said the process will be started soon as theprice of Turkmen gas is less than the Iranian gas.There is a clause for renegotiation gas price in IPagreement, if Pakistan managed to get fewer pricefrom any other source.

The finalized price of Turkmen gas is 60 percentof the Brent price but comes to 70 percent at the bor-der after inclusion of transit fee and other inciden-tals, the source said adding that at current levelPakistan will be having $ 1 billion in saving as com-pared to Iranian price. “We will be negotiating with

Iran to bring the prices at par with TAPI”, he said.Despite pressure from the United States, Pak-

istan plans to move ahead with the IP project toovercome the gas deficit of 2 billion cubic feet perday to counter the chronic power shortages of 5,000MW that were slowing the GDP by 3 percent perannum.

Pakistan is faced with a difficult situation to fi-nance laying of the gas pipeline infrastructure for in-jecting the imported Iranian gas in the national gastransmission network. Recently a Chinese bank ledconsortium has backed out from financing the proj-ect due to US pressure. The government has imposeda gas infrastructure development cess from January01, 2012 on all consumer categories except domesticand commercial to generate Rs 40 billion per annumto finance the project. If Pakistan fails to start im-porting gas from Iran from 2014, it will be liable topay heavy penalty to Iran for its failure to import thenatural gas. Iran has already informed Pakistan thatthe gas infrastructure on its side was 90 percentcomplete.

Govt wants MWP to take math classes

Honey, I shrunkthe reservesg Shrinking LPG reserves jackup prices by Rs 5-6 per kg

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

The marketing companies of LiquefiedPetroleum Gas (LPG) have increasedprices by Rs 5-6 per kilo after the deple-tion of 3,000 tons LPG surplus reservein the country. This was stated by thePattern-in-Chief of All Pakistan LPGDistributors Association and ChairmanFPCCI Standing Committee on LPGAbdul Hadi Khan here Friday. He saidafter this increase, LPG would be sold atRs 95-96 per kilo in Karachi, Rs 96-97per kilo in Lahore, Rs 99-100 per kilo inKhyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Peshawar,and Rs 105-107 per kilo in NorthernAreas, FATA, Mansehra, Batgram andAJK. Similarly, the price of 11.8 kgcylinder has been enhanced by Rs 50-60 to Rs 970-980 in Karachi, Rs 1020-1030 in Lahore, Rs 1168-1180 in KhyberPukhtoonkhwa and Rs 1240-1262 inNorthern Areas, FATA, Batgram andAJK. Price of 45.4 kg cylinder has beendecreased by Rs 210 to Rs 3732 inKarachi, Rs 3924 in Lahore, Rs 4495 inKhyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Rs 4858 inNorthern Areas, FATA, Batgram andAJK.Hadi pointed out that LPG sale hadbeen doubled in the last one month dueto decline in prices, but soon after thedepletion of surplus reserves, marketingcompanies have increased LPG priceswhich is again a matter of concern. Hesaid that due to 5 to 7 times price cuts,LPG has come in the reach of commonuser and its sales surged to 80 percent.However, producers did not enhancetheir production in accordance with therise in the sale and therefore marketingcompanies got the opportunity to raisethe price on the pretext of supply short-ages, he observed. Hadi said that theunexpected price rise has created prob-lems for LPG distributors as well asconsumers and they are worried. Heexpressed fears that prices may furthergo up as producers were not willing toincrease their production. There areclear indications that LPG sales willcome down in the country, he added.Hadi was of the opinion that the cur-rent energy crisis can be handled withthe help of locally produced LPG. But,there is a need to bring down theprice of LPG to make it available tocommon consumers and also as asubstitute fuel for automobiles.

Urea? Seriously? Page 02

g Power subsidy originally estimated at Rs 350 billion for next fiscal g Govt demands a recount, believes the number is Rs 50b too high

Bangladesh wants tofit into the pipeline

PRO 26-05-2012_Layout 1 5/26/2012 12:13 AM Page 1

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

THe fertilizer manufacturersin Pakistan have urged thegovernment to take advan-tage of their offer to buy lo-

cally manufactured urea instead ofbuying the same from internationalmarket by spending huge foreign ex-change. Government should immedi-ately stop importing urea in thecountry, which is already available forthe current season and rather spendthe foreign exchange for importingfurnace oil for the power sector toovercome the energy crisis in thecountry.

There is a huge financial crunch inthe ministry of Finance and it is ex-tremely difficult to comprehend whythe Government is willing to spendmoney on importing urea when thefertilizer sector has already offeredthe same at nearly (half) the price –saving Government precious foreignexchange.

A fertilizer sector sources main-tained that in light of a huge powercrisis with a gap of nearly 7000MW,the Ministry of Finance needs to en-sure that the country’s precious for-eign exchange should be spent onfurnace oil to run the power sectorwhich is cheaper than imported ureawhich is more expensive and is easilyavailable in the domestic market.

Fertilizer officials say that wewant to help the government in thistime of difficult economic conditionsin the country by solving the powercrisis in the most economically bene-

ficial and cost effective manner.If government postpones the deci-

sion of importing urea, which is al-ready available in the country, it canspend the same foreign exchange forimporting furnace oil for the powersector and bridge the demand andsupply gap.

TCP has already awarded a tenderfor importing 1 lakh tons of urea fromthe international market at a price ofUS$ 522.86 and it is planning to im-port 2 lakh tons of more urea in thecountry. Official informed that fer-tiliser sector had offered the govern-ment to buy 300,000 tons of urea atRs 33,000 per ton inclusive of GSTagainst government’s plan to import300,000 tons of urea at Rs 48,103 perton but it seems that instead of im-porting furnace oil to curb the severe

energy crisis in the country, govern-ment is interested in importing ureaby spending heavy foreign exchangewhich can be used to import furnaceoil for the power sector. The import of300,000 tons of urea will cost 14.4billion (at $522.86 rate) of foreign ex-change and the Government will haveto provide a subsidy of approximatelyRs 5 billion for the import of 3 lakhtons of urea. On an energy basis, it iswiser for the Ministry of Finance toimport furnace oil for the power sec-tor which is cheaper than import urea.

Industry sources revealed that thefertiliser industry had sent a letter tothe Ministry of Finance and requestedit to buy the proposed 300,000 tonsof urea from the domestic market at areasonably lower price. Referring toeCC's decision to import 300,000

tons of urea in the country, the indus-try sources says that the fertiliser in-dustry had urged the government toavoid importing urea at such exuber-ant price and instead buy the samefrom domestic urea manufacturers ata very nominal price.

Industry sources said that Fer-tiliser industry was given some hopeat highest level that the governmentmight defer the decision of importingurea if domestic fertiliser industry of-fered the same at a reasonable pricebut all in vain.

The letter also said that the fer-tiliser industry had a urea stock read-ily available and if government agreedto their cost-saving proposal, it couldimmediately deliver the required ureaat government's nominated ware-houses against 100% advance pay-ment. After receiving the offer fromfertiliser sector, the Finance Ministryinformed that it was seriously weigh-ing its options, as this offer seems lu-crative in terms of saving foreignexchange as well as to avoid giving thesubsidy on imported urea.

Fertiliser industry was hoping toreceive a positive feedback from thegovernment on this lucrative businessoffer by the domestic industry, sourcesaid. Already two fertiliser plants onSNGPL network, Pakarab andAgritech have started production fromMay 12, 2012 which would improvethe availability of urea in the market."The government should rather makea win-win situation for the industryand farmers both, an opportunity tosave billions of rupees in a single im-port transaction the official said.

news02Saturday, 26 May, 2012

OSCARS FOR DUMMIES

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Attock Oil Refinery (AOR) has increased theprices of lube base oil by Rs 3.50 per literwhich would result in sharp increase in all thelubricating oils adding another burden of Rs5per liter to the end consumers. All Pakistan Lu-bricants Manufacturers Association (APLMA)Chairman Mian Zahid Husain condemned thisarbitrary act of refinery and said this was sec-ond increase by the AOR and NRL in shortspan of one month while fifth increase in fourmonths’ time. He warned that this increasecould result in the price spiral of every brand oflubricating oil by another Rs3.50 per litre.While demanding to impose a price controlmechanism on lube base oil manufacturers,Mian Zahid informed that Attock Refinery, themajor shareholder of lube base oil manufactur-ers National Refinery has so far increased theprice by Rs42.50 per litre in the last 12 monthsand this is fifth announcement of price increasein lube base oil during the period.

Concerns mountover oil price hikeg Manufacturers condemn

NRL decision to up lube baseoil price by Rs3.50/liter

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

President American Business Forum (ABF) SalimGhauri has welcomed signing of TAPI pipelineagreement between Turkmanistan, India and Pak-istan to deliver gas through a new pipeline thatwill transit Afghanistan. The 1,700-kilometre(1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline aims to transport morethan 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually fromTurkmenistan to energy-hungry consumers inPakistan and India as well as relieving shortages inAfghanistan. Salim said signing of TAPI pipelineagreement is a historic event, carrying an impor-tance of not just of regional but of world scale. Hehas expressed the hope that the TAPI pipelineproject, tough an ambitious one given the turbu-lent and instable path to lay down, will spreadpeace and help our region flourish. The pipeline’sroute would take it straight through the region’smost turbulent locales, including conflict-tornHelmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistanas well as Quetta in Pakistan, where tribal unrest iscommon. However, Salim expressed the hope thatthe rising energy demand in countries like Indiaand Pakistan ahead would lead the measures rele-vant to security and safety of flow of 90 millioncubic meters of natural gas dream pipe. PresidentABF has appreciated the efforts of Petroleum Min-ister Dr Asim Hussain and expressed the hope thatpresent agreement would pave the way for a sta-ble, strong and prosperous Pakistan ahead.

If you’re happy and youknow it clap your handsg ABF president in high spirits

owing to TAPI agreement

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

The Karachi Stock exchange (KSe) islaunching an awareness program withan aim to expand the investor base at theequity market up to 0.5 million withinnext two years. The Investor AwarenessProgram (IAP) envisages expanding out-reach and awareness of financial serv-ices industry, enhancing marketconfidence and reducing the investors’vulnerability to fraudulent investmentschemes. “The program intends toachieve a CDC Investor base of 500,000by the end of the calendar year 2014,”said Nadeem Naqvi, Managing DirectorKSe, in a statement issued on Friday.According to Naqvi, country’s overall in-

vestor base in capital markets is signifi-cantly lower than regional countries.

He said a small investor base notonly meant that market volatility was el-evated but also that a very large numberof savers in Pakistan were not participat-ing in an asset class that had providedreal positive returns (after accountingfor inflation) over the last two decadeswhereas, traditional financial assetclasses such as National SavingsSchemes and 10-years governmentbonds had barely kept up with inflationwhile bank deposits have actually pro-vided negative real return thus causingloss of savers’ purchasing power.

A major reason for such a small in-vestor base was clearly insufficient at-tention to marketing and investor

awareness generation by capital marketinstitutions and participants. Further-more, whatever marketing had tradi-tionally been done, it had focused onspecific shares and had had a tradingorientation. “The fact of the matter isthat most investors are generally riskaverse,” Naqvi aded.

Therefore, the investors tend to stayaway from investments perceived ashaving high risk of volatility and loss, hesaid. Unfortunately, this means that theyalso miss the opportunity to obtainabove inflation return on the invest-ments which could protect the purchas-ing power of their savings.

In the above context, and under theguidance and active participation of theSeCP, Capital Market Institutions i.e. all

stock exchanges, CDC, NCCPL, MUFAPand Institute of Capital Markets (ICM)are in the final stages of commencing anationwide, comprehensive and sus-tained investor awareness program inthe second half of calendar year 2012.

The key characteristic of this pro-gram is to focus on personal financialplanning (for individual investors) andshow how a systematic and dedicated fi-nancial planning process can help in-vestors achieve their long term goalswhether it be financial independenceupon retirement, specific objectives suchas children’s higher education, marriage,etc., or saving enough equity for housepurchase. The equities play an impor-tant but partial role in this scheme ofthings and the marketing and selling ap-

proach needs to focus on the overall sav-ings plan for investors.

To finalize the IAP based on membercommunity input, assessment and sup-port to collaborate activities, the KSehas asked the members for their sugges-tions to be submitted latest by May 31along with nominations for the KSe’s“TRAIN A TRAINeR” program.

The nominated representatives shallbe provided all necessary material,training and coaching to enable them toconduct presentations, seminars andhandle questions from prospective in-vestors. The focus will be on personal fi-nancial planning, asset allocation andcharacteristics of various investment ve-hicles rather than individual brokeragehouse projection.

KSE lures in investors… or at least tries to

UREA? SERIOUSLY?g Fertiliser sector gives the ‘Who are you kidding!?’ award to the government owing to their decision to choose urea

in lieu of furnace oil to solve the power predicament

ISLAMABADONLINE

All Pakistan CNG Association has demanded ofthe government to announce reduction in gasload shedding for CNG, withdraw illegal increaseof Rs 11.50 and rollback cess tax.

The central chairman of All Pakistan CNG As-sociation while addressing a press conference inIslamabad, he said that if government does nottake back all these steps then we will close downall the CNG and Petrol Pumps of the country forstrike. The final program for strike and stage a sitin will be announced on Tuesday.

Ghiyas Paracha said that the proposal for im-posing more CeSS tax and CNG and increase ofCNG retail price will crush CNG industry. Boththe proposals are unjust with 4 Million vehicle

owners and 50 Million CNG consumers. “ CNGsector consumes only 7% percent of Gas and gives21% revenue which makes it one of the most prof-itable sector for government”, Ghiyas Parachaadded.

He said: “We will not let LPG to disturb 50million consumers and 4 million vehicle ownersand an economical travel facility of the middleclass of our country.” He said they have given acomprehensive formula to enhance government’srevenue and gas shortage this plan will resolvethe electricity and energy crisis of the country.

“With the help of our formula governmentwill earn more than 78 billion monthly extra rev-enue which will help to meet government’s circu-lar debt. He said that in summer season LPG is atthe cheapest price, the imported LPG is substan-dard, if it may provided to public absolutely free

even then it is not feasible and suitable for public.Only some selfish persons want to import sub-standard LPG and snatch it from poor consumers.Ghyas Paracha said that for benefit of some self-ish persons how government can give loss to 40million people and snatch cheaper travel facilityfrom price stricken masses of the country.

He said that New Taxes in budget would boostup the inflation and people can never purchase100 rupees kg CNG. The conspiracies to shutdown CNG sector will give lose of trillions to gov-ernment and public and we would not let LPG todisturb 50 millions consumers and 4 million ve-hicle owners. He said that there must be someenemy in the government who wants to defameand fail the government in the next elections sowhy he is floating these type of anti public ideasand proposals.

CNG price hike is a bit of a turn off for APCNGA

g UEyes 0.5mn investor base for equity market by 2014

TRADE TEMPTATIONS

WHO’D HAVE THOUGHT?

PRO 26-05-2012_Layout 1 5/26/2012 12:13 AM Page 2

news

Saturday, 26 May, 2012

03

POWER PLAY FROM THE STATES

600MW power generation broughtback to national grid: NTDCLLAHORE: The spokesman of National Transmissionand Despatch Company Limited (NTDCL) has said thatmore than 600 MW power generation has been broughtback to the national grid due to improvement in gas andoil supply to the power plants during the last one day. Thespokesman said that electricity demand has increased dueto hot weather which outstripped the power generationand enhanced the gap between demand and supply, how-ever, the average shortfall these days is about 5,000 MW.Dilating upon the power situation, the spokesman saidthat the hydel generation has reduced more than 2000MW as compared to previous year due to less inflow inTarbela and Mangla Reservoirs. The inflow in both reser-voirs was recorded 200,000 – 250,000 cusecs which hasreduced to 70,000 – 80,000 cusecs only. The spokesmanfurther said that although efforts have been made to boostthermal generation to full capability and major thermalplants of both GeNCO’s and IPPs i.e. Jamshoro, Kapco,Hubco, Liberty Power, Saif, Saphire, Orient and Halmore,which were out from the system have been brought on thebar by improving gas and fuel supply and more than 600MW has been added during last one day. According to thereport of Meteorological department, the melting processof glacier has started and hopefully water inflow in Reser-voirs will improve in a couple of days. Resultantly, thegeneration capacity will be enhanced and will help in re-ducing the severity of energy crisis, he added. Thespokesman appealed to the valued consumers to adhereto energy conservation measures for clipping down thepersisting demand.

Meezan Bank, Pak Suzuki signaccord on Residual Value Car Ijarah

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Meezan Bank, country’s first and largest Islamic commer-cial bank, would launch Residual Value Car Ijarah for PakSuzuki Automobiles. In this regard, Ariful Islam, COO andexecutive Director of Meezan Bank, and Hirofumi Nagao,Chief executive and Managing Director of Pak Suzuki,signed the MoU at a ceremony held here at MeezanHouse. As part of the agreement both companies wouldrun a joint campaign for the promotion of the both nor-mal and residual Ijarah product for Pak Suzuki automo-biles under the product umbrella of Meezan Car Ijarah(auto finance). Pak Suzuki would provide priority deliveryto the bank’s customers who avail Car Ijarah for PakSuzuki vehicles. Meezan Car Ijarah was launched in 2002and was the first and most successful Islamic Auto financeproduct in the country. The Residual value Ijarah allowscustomers the flexibility and freedom to pay a lowermonthly rental. This is a second joint campaign MOU

signed between the organizations to promote Meezan CarIjarah products for Pak Suzuki automobiles in Pakistan.

LG‘s new home theatre systems to disrupthome entertainment like never beforeKARACHI: LG electronics is launching four new hometheater systems in Pakistan equipped with LG’s latest 3Dsound technology and following their successful debut atthis year’s Consumer electronics Show (CeS). By combin-ing its 3D Home Theater Systems with the company’s pop-ular CINeMA 3D Smart TVs, LG aims to solidify itsposition as the leader in 3D home entertainment.“Whether it’s TVs or audio systems, LG continues to offerthe most immersive 3D home entertainment experiencepossible,” said Mr D.Y. Kim, President of LG electronicsGulf FZe. “Our CINeMA 3D Smart TVs will now be ac-companied by a wider variety of CINeMA 3D SOUNDHOMe THeATeR products that offer consumers a com-plete 3D experience and further strengthen LG’s leader-ship in 3D.” The BH9520TW incorporates LG’s very own3D Sound Zooming technology, which constantly synchro-nizes sound output with the location and movement of theon-screen 3D images on a CINeMA 3D Smart TV. In turn,3D Sound Zooming plunges the viewer into the middle ofthe action, as the events that unfold on their 3D TVs im-merse and surround the viewers as both images and soundin real 3D. 3D Sound Zooming is capable of generating va-riety of depth in sound based on a complex algorithm thatanalyzes the varying depth of numerous on-screen objectsdisplayed on the 3D TV. Such immersive 3D sound qualityis enhanced further by the BH9520TW’s 9.1 speaker sys-

tem, which adds four Upright 3D Speakers to the 5.1 chan-nels of a conventional home theater system. The four Up-right 3D Speakers pump sound upward, ensuring that thevertical space is completely filled with sound. Meanwhile,a 360º Reflector inside each of the Upright 3D Speakersreflects sound in all directions, creating acoustics as richas those in a concert hall.

Nestle Pakistan announces new MDLAHORE: Nestlé Pakistan, the world's leading Nu-trition, Health and Wellness Company has an-nounced change in responsibilities of Ian JamesDonald as the Managing Director of Nestle equato-rial African Region (eAR). In his place, MagdiBatato will take the responsibilities as the new Man-aging Director of Nestlé Pakistan with effect fromMay 25, 2012. Ian Donald has been Managing Direc-tor at Nestle Pakistan Limited since September 1,2009. He was deputed from Nestle Malaysia Berhad,where he served as a Director of Ice Cream, ChilledProducts & Associated Businesses. Under his lead-ership, Nestle Pakistan succeeded in delivering ro-bust financial results despite the economicslowdown and flood crises in the country, which hitlivestock sector and affected production channels ofthe company. Prior to being assigned new responsi-bilities, Magdi Batato was the Group Technical &Production Director for Nestlé UK and Ireland.Magdi joined the Group in 1991 in Switzerland andhas pursued a highly successful factory and techni-cal management career in Switzerland, Germany,Lebanon , South Africa, Malaysia, UK and Ireland.

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

UniLever PakXD 7190.83 7500.00 7150.00 7233.88 43.05 674Mithchells Fruit 260.88 273.92 250.00 273.11 12.23 285,876Pak Services 155.26 162.89 155.26 162.89 7.63 200Philip Morris Pak. 146.23 153.54 141.26 153.39 7.16 9,987Mehmood Tex 94.58 99.30 98.50 99.30 4.72 600

Major Losers

Nestle Pakistan Ltd. 3955.16 3996.97 3890.00 3908.75 -46.41 34Wyeth Pak Limited 811.43 819.00 800.00 800.10 -11.33 1,111Shezan Inter. 216.82 226.66 205.98 210.01 -6.81 10,704Island Textile 190.00 199.50 181.01 183.25 -6.75 160Attock PetroleumXD 448.97 455.80 440.00 443.36 -5.61 65,432

Volume Leaders

Hub Power Company 39.02 40.97 39.10 40.85 1.83 27,071,945Bankislami Pakistan 10.20 11.20 10.10 11.20 1.00 13,923,919P.T.C.L.A 15.39 15.95 15.31 15.87 0.48 12,513,800Lafarge Pakistan 4.42 4.84 4.40 4.77 0.35 10,348,551D.G.K.Cement 42.08 43.20 42.21 42.77 0.69 9,887,000

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 91.7953UK Pound 143.7882Japanese Yen 1.1536euro 115.5060

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 92.40 93.00Euro 114.97 116.31Great Britain Pound 143.78 145.43Japanese Yen 1.1497 1.1627Canadian Dollar 88.97 90.50Hong Kong Dollar 11.75 11.95UAE Dirham 25.08 25.34Saudi Riyal 24.58 24.82

Australian Dollar 89.41 91.89

KARACHI,STAFF REPORT

STOCKS closed lower as in-vestors remained cautiousahead of federal budget an-nouncements due next week.

Viewed by Ahsan Mehanti, Director atArif Habib Investments Limited.

The Karachi Stock exchange (KSe)100-share index declined 11.86 pointsor 0.09 percent to close at 13,925.06points as compared to 13,936.92points of the previous session. TheKSe 30-share index shed 8.99 pointsto close at 12,090.20 points as com-pared with 12,081.21 points.

The market turnover remains neg-ative and traded 1.652 million sharesafter opening at 1.775 million shares.The overall market capitalization de-clined 0.01 percent and traded Rs3.5627 trillion as against Rs 3.3.5628trillion. Losers outnumbered gainers155 to 123, while 83 stocks were un-changed.

Mehanti added “Uncertain globalstocks and lower global commoditieson possible Greece exit from euro-zone and limited foreign interest af-fected the sentiments.”

The KMI 30-share was down by73.55 points to close at 24,120.35points from its opening at 24,046.80

points. The KSe all-share index closedwith a loss of 0.95 points to 9,802.02points as against 9,802.97 points.

The Hub Power Company was thevolume leader in the share marketwith 27.071 million shares as it closedat Rs 40.97 after opening at Rs 39.02.Bank Islami Pakistan traded 13.923million shares as it closed at Rs 11.20after opening Rs 10.20. P.T.C.L.Atraded 12.513 million shares as itclosed at Rs 15.87 from its opening atRs 15.39. Lafarge Pakistan traded10.348 million shares and closed at Rs4.77 as against its opening at Rs 4.42.D.G.K Cement traded 9.887 millionshares as it closed at Rs 42.77 as com-pared to its opening at Rs 42.08.

He said that the rising local ce-ment prices invited institutional inter-est despite of uncertainty over Pak-USrelations and disbursement of US aidpending progress over NATO supplies.

On the future market, the turnoverrecovered remarkably by over 6 mil-lion shares 29.056 million against22.258 million shares of Thursday.

The Unilever Pakistan XD andMithchells Fruit and, up Rs 43.05 andRs 12.23, led highest price gainerswhile, Nestle Pakistan Limited andWyeth Pakistan Limited down Rs46.41 and Rs 11.33 respectively, ledthe losers.

Bears smell honey,bulls run over it

LAHORE: Prof. Sohail Afzal, Executive Director, Punjab Group of Colleges and Allied Schools sign KFC School PartnershipProgramme with Sohail Masood, Senior Brand Manager, KFC Pakistan North Region.

Uncle Sam laysit on the lineg USAID starts programme

for Pakistani linemenISLAMABAD

ONLINE

United States Agency for International De-velopment (USAID) has launched “QuickImpact Lineman Training Program”through the US Government aimed at helpin saving thousands of linemen in Pakistan. At the concluding session of the trainingprogram held on Friday at the WAPDAStaff College, Deputy Chief of party ofUSAID’s Power Distribution Program offi-cially handed over linemen safety trainingtools to the Regional Training Centre(RTC), Islamabad electric Supply Com-pany (IeSCO). USAID has already provided safety train-ings to over 415 linemen of Hyderabadelectric Power Company (HeSCO) and willprovide training to thousands more in thecoming months.While addressing the trainees and visitingdignitaries, Mr. Saleem Arif, Deputy Chiefof Party USAID Power Distribution Pro-gram said, “The U.S. Government recog-nizes the importance of safety and the partit plays in system reliability and loss reduc-tion.” “We are committed to developing theright resources for linemen to help drasti-cally improve their safety and facilitatetheir work,” he noted. In closing, Saleem Arif stated, “The U.S.Government supports Pakistan to bringimprovements to DISCOs’ systems to im-prove electricity availability and flow to theconsumers.” US Secretary of State, Clinton, to supportPakistan’s energy situation, announced thethree-year USAID Program in 2009. Through this program of Power Distribu-tion, the US Government provides assis-tance to the Government of Pakistan in itsefforts to reform the power sector and thusmitigate the energy crisis. The program is helping government-ownedelectric power distribution companies toimprove their performance in terms of re-duced losses, increased revenues, and en-hanced customer services.

TRADE FLAVOURS BUDGET TURNS INTO HONEY

Variety isthe spice oflife for LCCIg Calls for strategy to diversify exports

LAHOREONLINE

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) Friday called a well thought-out and well-de-signed strategy to diversify exports to other emergingmarkets as europe and North American markets con-tinue to face downward pressures since the begin-ning of global economic downturn. In a statementissued here, the LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikhsaid that the contraction in euro zone’s private sectorhas further darkened the shadows over the globaleconomy and its spillover may hit Pakistan's privatesector therefore the diversification of exports is theonly way out.The LCCI president said that in the Gulf region,Saudi Arabia and Qatar has lot of business potentialwhile Turkey and African region are other promisingmarkets. "If we do not act now, the economy runsthe risk of a downward spiral of uncertainty, finan-cial instability," he said. The LCCI President saidthat an appropriate economic roadmap backed by awell thought-out implementation and monitoringmechanism, is a prerequisite to economic revival ofthe country. He said that the private sector has theability to make this country a hub of economic activi-ties. He said that if the situation remains the samefor quite some time, a large number of businessmenwould not be able to pay their dues to the banks andwould be bound to default.

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