Index hits 19-month high

[Talal]

KARACHI (April 02 2010): Bullish trend continued at the Karachi share market on Thursday on the back of strong interest of foreign investors and the KSE-100 index gained another 68.34 points to close at 19-month high level of 10,246.77 points. The improving political situation coupled with positive report of international rating agencies encouraged the investors to take fresh positions aggressively.

After strong positive opening, the index breached 10,300 level after 20 months to hit 10,3314.61 points intra-day high level. Trading volumes however declined to 170.343 million shares as compared to 199.308 million shares traded on Wednesday. The overall market capitalisation increased by Rs 17 billion to Rs 2.907 trillion. Out of total 433 active scrips, 256 closed in positive, 157 in negative while the value of 20 scrips remained unchanged.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 28.935 million shares gaining Re 0.49 to close at Rs 3.83. Jahangir Siddiqui Co inched up by Re 0.18 to close at Rs 21.85 with 10.418 million shares. Azgard Nine increased by Re 0.12 to close at Rs 14.06 with 7.722 million shares.

In the banking sector, NBP and NIB Bank surged by Rs 1.58 and Re 0.12 to close at Rs 69.41 and Rs 4.24 with 7.564 million shares and 4.790 million shares respectively, however Silkbank lost Re 0.08 to close at Rs 3.07 with 8.602 million shares. Lafarge Pakistan gained Re 0.28 to close at Rs 4.88 with 6.365 million shares.

Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim and Fauji Fertiliser Co (FFC) increased by Re 0.57 and Rs 3.04 to close at Rs 32.40 and Rs 112.73 with 6.315 million shares and 4.432 million shares, respectively. Lotte Pakistan gained Re 0.13 to close at Rs 11.06 with 5.020 million shares.

Unilever Pakistan and Nestle Pakistan were the highest gainers with Rs 173.42 and Rs 59.96 to close at Rs 3641.94 and Rs 1339.96, respectively while Bata Pak and Dreamworld were the worst losers with Rs 30.90 and Rs 28.00 to close at Rs 684.10 and Rs 560.00, respectively. Ahmed Rauf, an analyst at JS Global Capital said that the local bourse witnessed a rally for the second straight day closing 68 points up, at 10,247 level, a 19-month high.

The investors' confidence strengthened following a major breakthrough last night with political consensus on the 18th constitutional amendment being reached, massive net foreign inflow of $13.1 million on Wednesday and with Moody's statement come in, declaring there were no major threats to Pakistan's sovereign bond ratings in the short-term. PSO was the major beneficiary, closing 1.6 percent up, due to increasing petroleum prices. The cement sector also witnessed a rally, as APCMA released figures showing an increase in both local and export sales.

[Talal]

Expanding network infrastructure, service quality: Telenor Group transfers $80m to Pakistan

KARACHI: Telenor Group, a Norwegian telecom giant, transferred $80 million to its subsidiary in Pakistan, which will be utilised for expansion of network infrastructure and improvement of service quality in the upcoming months, official sources told Daily Times on Tuesday.

This is one of the biggest investments made by any foreign-based telecommunication company in the country so far in the current fiscal year.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector has declined to $205.4 million in July to February as compared with the landed investment recorded at $736.9 million in the same period of last financial year, showing a 72 percent decline.

Telenor official said that the investment will be spent on various existing and upcoming projects related to network infrastructure expansion and quality of service enhancement.

Number of cell sites, franchises and other infrastructure related projects will be accomplished in order to improve quality of services and network expansion throughout the country, they added.

As per Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Telenor has established more than 6,088 sites including solar energy-run sites by the end of July 2009.

The Norwegian-based cellular phone company is ranked as second having largest subscribers’ base with 23.7 percent share in the overall users’ market. By the end of January, the total number of pre-paid and post-paid subscribers stood at 22.64 million. The company has a network of 250-plus franchises and 150,000 retailers through out the country.

It acquired majority shares of Tameer Microfinance Bank in November 2008 for $12.5 million. Subsequently launched ‘mobile accounts’ recently, a new service as part of easypaisa mobile banking services. Easypaisa was initially launched in October 2009 with bill payment and later added money transfer to its portfolio.

According to the official statistics, more than 600,000 bill payments and more than 175,000 money transfer transactions have been recorded in the last four months.

In 2009, EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins grew to an all-time high of 28.4 percent. It was recorded at 1,055 million Norwegian krone (NOK) in the closing year as compared with 709 million NOK in 2008. It is estimated that Telenor Pakistan would have contributed Rs 20 billion in various forms of direct and indirect taxes to Pakistan’s economy.

Telenor Group is the country’s single largest European investor, with investments in excess of $2 billion, beginning with the acquisition of a GSM licence in 2004 for $291 million.

[Talal]

Over 90 industrial units start production in SIE



Tuesday, March 30, 2010
By our correspondent

LAHORE: Over 90 industrial units have come into production in Sundar Industrial Estate including multinational, national and local companies. The infrastructure is complete and work has already been initiated on amenity areas as well.

This was disclosed at the first meeting of newly constituted Board of Directors of Punjab Industrial Estates (PIE). As notified by the Government of Punjab in its notification issued recently, the meeting of the new Board of Directors of Punjab Industrial Estates (PIE) was convened at the Head Office of PIE.

The nominated board members participated who were inducted for a fresh term of three years. In its deliberations the board of directors considered various matters including revision of prices at Sundar Industrial Estate (SIE) & Multan Industrial Estate (MIE), in addition to routine matters.

The new directors of PIE Rizwan Khalid But, Tanveer Tariq and Member Punjab Assembly Imran Ashraf also participated in the BOD meeting. It is worthwhile to mention that the number of Board directors has been reduced to 16 from 23 by the Government of Punjab recently.

[tor_khan]

Re-posts.

[Talal]

???

[pir_Rokhan]

Most of your posts are Pakistani propaganda.Though there is no harm that Pakistan progresses and develops,but you should have the common sense that all this progress taken place in non-Pakhtun areas and at the cost of Pakhtun sweat and blood e.g in Karachi and Lahore.This is not a Pakistani forum it is Pashtun forum,as the very name says it even for a half literate person,so have some decency and either write something from your own mind ,your analysis which could make the lives of Pakhtuns better or stop posting all this Pakistani military/govt propaganda.

No one is bothered about all this propaganda stuff.This ,on the contrary, makes Pashtuns feel that while other nations of the world like Punjabis,Sindhis etc living in Pakistan are progressing due to state sponsorship,we Pakhtuns are sidelined and cornered.As a reaction dont be surprised to see more bombs in lahore and panjab and sindh.This way you are creating more enemies for your pakistan,digging grave for yourself unconsciously.

Trust me a poor Pashtun in Pakistan is exactly thinking now on the lines as an hindi/urdu poet has said

hum do dobain gey sanam
tum ko bhi lay dobain gay.

[pir_Rokhan]

Pir,
He is informing us of the world. I think its a good thing. I have learned so much here.

Did you understand what I said? Informing about the world is not bad ,it is informing just one side about the other side of the world which is not appreciated by people with some sense.

[Talal]

Did you understand what I said? Informing about the world is not bad ,it is informing just one side about the other side of the world which is not appreciated by people with some sense.

Afghanistan itself is a landlocked country and bulk of its trade happens through Karachi, with gawadar now opening Afghanistan will get another trade route within Pakistan, this will give a much needed boost to Afghan's economy. Pakistan is the the biggest export and import market for Afghan goods, and without Pakistan Afghanistan would have no direct trade route with the world. Need i remind you karachi was one of the reasons russians attacked Afghanistan because they too wanted access to it. Moreover to your point about this being a "pakistani" news, double the amount of pashtuns live in Pakistan than they do in Afghanistan and ironically karachi not peshawar or kabul, is the city containing the largest population of Pashtuns in the world. Next time put some sense into your arguments instead of sounding like a bitter retard

and ive told u before you dont wanna read it no one's asking you to click ok ?

[Talal]

ISLAMABAD, April 2 (Reuters) - Chinese telecom giant, China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), will invest $300 million in Pakistan in 2010, mainly on expansion of its infrastructure in the south Asian country, a company spokesman said on Friday.

Pakistan's telecom sector has boomed over the past 10 years and now has over 95.40 million mobile phone users, from some 300,000 in 2000, with cellular mobile density of over 58 percent, according to its state telecommunication authority.

But growing concerns over a Taliban insurgency and chronic power shortages have put off investors, with net foreign investment down 45.9 percent to $1.02 billion in the first eight months of the 2009/10 fiscal year.

China Mobile, which operates in Pakistan through its overseas subsidiary, China Mobile Pakistan, has some 6.93 million subscribers in Pakistan, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) website (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority).

The company's chairman, Wang Jianzhou, was in Pakistan this week where he met government officials to discuss expansion and investment plans, said the spokesman of the company known in Pakistan by its brand name of Zong.

"During the visit Mr Wang made the announcement that for this year our investment in Pakistan will be $300 million," the spokesman said.

Last year, China Mobile's investment in Pakistan was $500 million, while total investment in the country has reached $1.66 billion, he said.

Pakistan's mobile operators include CM PAK of China Mobile, Mobilink, a unit of Egypt's Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA: Quote, Profile, Research), Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), Ufone, a subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd (PTCA.KA: Quote, Profile, Research), Warid Telecom Pakistan, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Group and SingTel Group (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research), and Instaphone, which is not publicly traded.

Mobilink has the largest share with 31.06 million subscribers, according to the PTA website. (Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

China Mobile to invest $300 mln in Pakistan-spokesman | Reuters

[Master Khan]

^
yeah even females have mobile phones now..before it was bad thing for a female to have a mobile phone.

[Talal]

Investment in Pakistan: Italy to set up $10 billion credit facility: BoI

KARACHI (October 18 2009): Italy will set up a creditline facility of $10 billion for its companies aiming to invest in various fields in Pakistan. The Chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI), Saleem H Mandviwalla, told reporters on Saturday at a press conference at the BoI office that the facility would conclude in six months, which would be available for Italian firms in Italy to avail.

He said that President Asif Ali Zardari in his meeting with his Italian counterpart and also with Italian Prime Minister requested them for establishment of a creditline facility to its firms which intend to invest in Pakistan. Also, a meeting with Italian small and medium enterprises was held, which remained successful, as President Zardari's primary focus stuck to his investment plan during the recent Italy visit.

He pointed out that Italian firms are undergoing a financial crunch and investment opportunities in the country would also help them overcome such problems, and Pakistan would also benefit in the process. A Pakistan-Italy chamber of businessmen will be established in Pakistan, which the Italian government will support, Mandviwalla said.

However, terming the recent official visit of President Zardari to Italy as "successful", he said that foreign investors, despite keen willingness to grab business opportunities in Pakistan, are reluctant to do so because of the ever-rising terrorism. President Zardari extended invitation to the Italian president to visit Pakistan which he accepted and said that he will arrive in Islamabad with Italian investors.

The President also discussed textile related issues which Pakistan faces in Europe with Italy which she promised to sort out with its G-8 members in next session, besides ensuring all-out support to Pakistan for fighting war against terrorism. The Chairman of BoI expressed hope that the visit would open doors for bilateral trade between the two countries.

He also apprised the reporters about his recent South Korean visit and termed it also successful, saying that many firms already in Pakistan have shown keen interest to further boost their businesses here. He said that Korean firms are interested in fields of power generation and distribution, construction of dams, in automobile sector. The Korean Prime Minister was given an invitation on behalf of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which he accepted to visit Pakistan and also to bring along investors.