International Microfinance Framework: Pak tops in regulatory ranking See on Page 12 Zardari ends Lanka tour on high note See on Page 12 CAA grounds Russian planes in Pak See on Page 12 *Crude Oil (brent)$/bbl 87.07 *Crude Oil (WTI)$/bbl 85.29 *Cotton $/lb 117.21 *Gold $/ozs 1,384.70 *Silver $/ozs 27.62 Malaysian Palm $ 1,097 GOLD (NCEL) PKR 37,716 KHI Cotton 40Kg PKR 9,109 *Last Updated 20:00 PST Yearly(Jul, 2010 up to 29-Nov-2010) Monthly(Nov, 2010 up to 29-Nov-2010) Daily (29-Nov-2010) Total Portfolio Invest (19 Nov-2010) 164.15 59.43 2.95 3796 1.15 4.07 -3.54 -0.21 -1.04 0.05 -0.49 SCRA(U.S $ in million) Portfolio Investment FIPI (30-Nov-2010) Local Companies (30-Nov-2010) Banks / DFI (30-Nov-2010) Mutual Funds (30-Nov-2010) NBFC (30-Nov-2010) Local Investors (30-Nov-2010) Other Organization (30-Nov-2010) (U.S $ in million) NCCPL GDR update Commodities Forex Reserves (19-Nov-10) Inflation CPI% (Jul 10-Nov 10) Exports (Jul 10-Nov 10) Imports (Jul 10-Nov 10) Trade Balance (Jul 10-Nov 10) Current A/C (Jul 10- Oct 10) Remittances (Jul 10-Nov 10) Foreign Invest (Jul 10-Oct 10) Revenue (Jul 10-Oct 10) Foreign Debt (Sep 10) Domestic Debt (Aug 10) Repatriated Profit (Jul- Oct 10) LSM Growth (Aug 10) GDP Growth FY10E Per Capita Income FY10 Population $16.85bn 14.17% $7.17bn $12.25bn $(5.08)bn $(533)mn $3.50bn $569mn Rs 411bn $58.41bn Rs 4863bn $203.80mn -3.85% 4.10% $1,051 171.19mn Economic Indicators Symbols MCB (1 GDR= 2 Shares) OGDC (1 GDR= 10 Shares) UBL (1 GDR= 4 Shares) LUCK (1 GDR= 4 Shares) HUBC (1 GDR= 25 Shares) $.Price 2.60 19.00 2.00 1.70 10.75 PKR/Shares 111.37 162.77 42.84 36.41 36.84 T-Bills (3 Mths) T-Bills (6 Mths) T-Bills (12 Mths) Discount Rate Kibor (1 Mth) Kibor (3 Mths) Kibor (6 Mths) Kibor ( 9 Mths) Kibor (1Yr) P.I.B ( 3 Yrs) P.I.B (5 Yrs) P.I.B (10 Yrs) P.I.B (15 Yrs) P.I.B (20 Yrs) P.I.B (30 Yrs) 15-Nov-2010 15-Nov-2010 15-Nov-2010 29-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 30-Nov-2010 12.86% 13.20% 13.30% 14.00% 13.39% 13.36% 13.60% 13.97% 14.09% 13.75% 13.80% 14.02% 14.32% 14.45% 14.65% Money Market Update Symbols Buy (Rs) Sell (Rs) Australian $ 82.00 83.00 Canadian $ 83.50 84.50 Danish Krone 14.50 15.00 Euro 112.20 113.70 Hong Kong $ 10.90 11.00 Japanese Yen 1.003 1.029 Saudi Riyal 22.77 22.95 Singapore $ 64.50 65.50 Swedish Korona 12.55 12.65 Swiss Franc 86.85 86.95 U.A.E Dirham 23.27 23.50 UK Pound 133.00 134.50 US $ 85.75 85.95 Open Mkt Currency Rates Symbols Buying Selling TT Clean TT & OD Australian $ 82.29 82.48 Canadian $ 83.95 84.15 Danish Krone 15.05 15.09 Euro 112.20 112.46 Hong Kong $ 11.02 11.05 Japanese Yen 1.016 1.019 Saudi Riyal 22.83 22.88 Singapore $ 64.89 65.04 Swedish Korona 12.24 12.27 Swiss Franc 85.60 85.80 U.A.E Dirham 23.30 23.36 UK Pound 133.11 133.42 US $ 85.67 85.86 Inter-Bank Currency Rates Subscribe now Tel: 92-21-5311893-6 Fax: 92-21-5388428 Email: editor@ thefinancialdaily.com www.thefinancialdaily.com CITIES MAX-TEMP MIN ISLAMABAD 25°C 4°C KARACHI 30°C 12°C LAHORE 25°C 8°C FAISALABAD 26°C 8°C QUETTA 15°C -7°C RAWALPINDI 24°C 6°C Weather Forecast Index Close Change KSE 100 11,234.76 71.33 Nikkei 225 9,937.04 188.95 Hang Seng 23,007.99 158.23 Sensex 30 19,521.25 116.15 ADX 2,729.87 1.35 SSE COMP. 2,820.18 46.18 FTSE 100 5,554.68 3.73 *Dow Jones 11,005.19 47.30 *Last Updated 20:00 PST Global Indices ‘Musharraf has clear stance about Israel’ Responding WikiLeaks See on Page 12 SUKKUR: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani cutting a cake to celebrate 44th founding day of PPP during a public gathering. -Online PARIS: WikiLeaks faced a worldwide backlash on Tuesday over its release of secret US diplomatic cables, with some countries saying the revelations undermined diplo- macy while others dismissed them as worthless. Japan echoed its key ally the United States in describing the leaks as "criminal" and said governments alone had the right to decide on the release of sensitive documents. But WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, who defended the decision to reveal some 250,000 diplomatic cables, found support from leftist gov- ernments in South America. Top US diplomat Hillary Clinton left for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday which has taken on the appearance of a diplomatic damage limitation exercise. Clinton, who earlier accused WikiLeaks of an "attack" on the US and the world, vowed to reassure dozens of allies that Washington remains a credible See # 15 Page 11 WikiLeaks draws global backlash SArabia wants chip implanted in Gitmo captives RIYADH: Saudi King Abdullah proposed implanting Guantanamo detainees with electronic chips to monitor See # 14 Page 11 Karzai lets outlaws off KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the release of numerous dangerous criminals and drug-traffickers detained by US-led coalition See # 13 Page 11 NKorea losing value to China WASHINGTON: Chinese officials are increasingly exas- perated with close ally North Korea and some feel China's erratic neighbor is losing its See # 12 Page 11 Kayani using the Parliament ISLAMABAD: Wikileaks released sensitive documents alleging that the Gen Ashfaq Kayani’s opposition led to the conflict on the Kerry-Lugar See # 11 Page 11 Staff Reporter KARACHI: Where inflation is constantly on the rising trend, and prices of commodi- ties skyrocketing, Ogra in an unexpected move on Tuesday stayed th petrloeum prices at the current level for the December, while Authority also fixed the margin for deal- ers and distributors. The current price of petrole- um stands at Rs72.96 per litre whereas that of diesel project- ed at Rs78.33 per litre. The announcement came late Tusday night - as was expected due to the last day of November. According to analysts, this decision of keeping the prices at the present level would indeed provide a sort of relief to masses, who were anticipat- ing an increment in the petrole- um products prices. Earlier in October, Ogra had increased the prices of petrole- um products by more than five per cent - citing the rising trend in the international market and decided to pass on the effects to the consumers. The inflation estimates have since been revised up to 14.5 per cent for the current year because of disruptions in the supply of food items. It is relevant to mention here that State Bank of Pakistan Monday in attemp to curb down the inflation has also stepped up the discount rate. Ogra keeps POL prices unchanged ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to make a request to International Monetary Fund (IMF) to extend its $ 11 billion stand-by programme for three months on the apprehension of expected delay on the approval of Reform General Sales Tax (RGST) from the Parliament. Pakistan's IMF programme is going to be end on December 31, 2010 and the request would be made to extend it till March 2011. RGST bill seems difficult to be passed from the parliament in the upcoming session starting from December 20, sources told. Provinces are still didn't reach on any agreement on the bill. IMF has conditioned its next tranches with the approval of RGST bill from parliament. -Online Pak to buy more time from IMF Staff reporter KARACHI: Term Finance Certificates (TFCs) constitute a substantial part of invest- ments of the Mutual Funds -- more precisely of the Asset Management Companies -- investing in corporate bonds. However, sector experts believe that Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan (MUFAP) is not serious in resolving the pricing issue. See # 10 Page 11 Mufap urged to iron out issues ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army has once again sought its full share of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) from the government and made it clear that army is spending from its budget in war against terror and the delay in payments is causing a set back in its opera- tional capabilities. Defense sources told Online that Pakistan Army has written numerous letters to federal finance ministry but despite that federation has not paid due share of the army from the CSF. The federal govt has so far paid the army Rs1.6 billion out of Rs11.59 billion it owes to the army due to which the operational capabilities of the army are suffering. Sources told that the army is paying the expenditures of the war on terror through its own budget. Sources told that the See # 8 Page 11 Army demands full share of CSF Aamir Abidi KARACHI: Fertiliser offtake depicted a surge of 51 per cent YoY in October 2010 to 941k tonnes against 623k tonnes in same period last year, as water receded and dealers piled up inventories on expectation of RGST on fertiliser. According to the latest data released by National Fertilizer Development Centre (NDFC), urea sales marginally down by 0.4 per cent in the month of October to 427k tonnes against 429k tonnes in the identical period last year. On the other hand, Di- ammonium phosphate (DAP) offtake remained encouraging during the period with the industry registering massive growth of 170 per cent on a YoY basis. DAP sales reached at 371k tonnes in Oct 2010, compared with 137k tonnes in October 2009. Average retail prices of See # 18 Page 11 Fertiliser offtake rises 51pc in Oct YoY: urea down 0.4pc, DAP up 170pc ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top rice export body said Tuesday it aims to export 4 million tonnes in fiscal year 2010/11, about 1 million tonnes more than previous estimates made after destructive floods in August. Irfan Ahmed Sheikh, chair- man of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), said total rice produc- tion would be nearly 6 million tonnes. A senior food ministry offi- cial, however, low-balled Reap's estimate and said output would be about 5 million tonnes. "We dispute the See # 17 Page 11 Rice export seen at 4mn T this yr PSO eyes 30pc stake in PRL Ghulam Raza Rajani KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) intends to acquire 30 per cent shares in Pakistan Refinery limited (PRL) - shares currently hold by Shell Petroleum Co, London. As per notice sent by the Company to KSE, company will conduct due diligence of PRL and on the basis of the findings will decide whether it will pro- ceed with the proposed acquisi- tion. In case PSO proceeds with the acquisition, a subsequent tender offer will be made as stipulated in the Ordinance. BMA Capital Management Limited has been appointed by PSO as the lead Advisory Firm/ Financial Advisor to the transac- tion and the manager to the offer. Fed Cabinet swells to 60 ISLAMABAD: Two new minis- ters have been inducted in the federal cabinet bringing the total number of federal ministers to 40 and state ministers to 18. According to state-owned tele- vision, Haji Khuda Baksh took oath in a simple but dignified ceremony as federal minister while Istaqbal Khan as State Minister respectively. It is pertinent to mention that as President Asif Ali Zardari is on a visit to Sri Lanka, Speaker NA Dr Fehmida Mirza took oath from the ministers. With these two new inductions the federal cabinet has swelled to 60 members that is 40 federal See # 9 Page 11 RGST Bill NA body meets today ISLAMABAD: Three-day ses- sion of National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance would start here from today (Wednesday) for approval of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) Bill and Finance Amendment Bill 2010. The session would be chaired by Chairperson of the commit- tee Fauzia Wahab. In today's session the NA body would take stock of pub- lic reservations regarding RGST and the committee would hold public hearing in this regard. On the 2nd and 3rd day the clause wise approval of RGST and Finance Amendment Bill 2010 would be given. The gov- ernment is facing a tough time in getting this bill passed as its allies MQM and JUI-F are strongly opposing the RGST. In the 17 member committee PPP only has 6 members and in order to get the bill approved it needs 9 members on its side. -Online 6 dead in Bannu suicide attack BANNU: Six people including 2 policemen have been killed and 22 wounded in a suicide attack on a police mobile van here, while another suspicious man was arrested from the scene. According to police, a mobile van was on a routine round when a suicide attacker blew himself up when the van was approaching Milad Park, killing two constables sitting in the van and 4 other people who were nearby and wounding 22 people. The injured have been shifted to the district hospital Bannu and few of the injured are said to be in critical condition. Police cordoned off the area and started the search opera- tion. DIG Iftikhar Khan has confirmed the number of the casualties and said that it was a See # 16 Page 11 Karachi, Wednesday, December 1, 2010, Zil Hajj 24, Price Rs12 Pages 12 Special Correspondent/ Agencies PESHAWAR/SUKKUR: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday has said that Pakistan Army has the authority to decide when and where to launch the operation in North Waziristan, he added, however government has given its nod for such operation. Talking to media here he said that there is no pressure on us regarding launching an offen- sive in NWA the govt had given permission to launch the offen- sive before hand. The army first launched offensive in Malakand and South Waziristan. He said pub- lic apprehensions on RGST would be removed. In response to a question he said that Wikileaks reports are unauthentic. Earlier, addressing the PPP workers at its 44th founding day at Peshawar PM Gilani again made it clear that PPP is not a mere political party only but it is a name of ideology, movement and mission adding sacrifices made by our leaders are invaluable for the sake of the national interest of the country. Killers of Benazir Bhutto would be penalised and will be given rigorous punishment tooth and nail; Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said. Prime Minister went on to say that "Terrorism is Pakistan's biggest problem; Shaheed Benazir Bhutto want- ed to eradicate this menace from the country and we are rendering sacrifices to realize this dream," he said, added that BB gave her life for Pakistan. PM said that Pakistan's econ- omy is being badly affected for the investors are trickling down See # 7 Page 11 Army to call shots in NWA PM says govt gave nod for operation Pledges to expose Benazir Bhutto's killers Says Wikileaks reports are unauthentic No sugar shortage in Pak: Gilani SUKKUR: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Gilani has said that there is no scarcity of sugar in the country as propaganda is just meant to defame the gov- ernment. Addressing a foundation-day gathering of Pakistan Peoples See # 6 Page 11 TFCs pricing mechanism RGST Bill Approval Dealers, distributors margin fixed
Transcript
International
Microfinance Framework: Pak tops in regulatory ranking See on Page 12
Zardari ends Lanka tour on high note See on Page 12
SUKKUR: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani cutting a cake to celebrate 44th founding day of PPP during a public gathering. -Online
PARIS: WikiLeaks faced aworldwide backlash onTuesday over its release ofsecret US diplomatic cables,with some countries saying therevelations undermined diplo-macy while others dismissedthem as worthless.
Japan echoed its key ally theUnited States in describing theleaks as "criminal" and saidgovernments alone had theright to decide on the release of
sensitive documents.But WikiLeaks' founder
Julian Assange, who defendedthe decision to reveal some250,000 diplomatic cables,found support from leftist gov-ernments in South America.
Top US diplomat HillaryClinton left for theOrganization for Security andCooperation in Europe (OSCE)summit in Kazakhstan onTuesday which has taken on the
appearance of a diplomaticdamage limitation exercise.
Clinton, who earlier accusedWikiLeaks of an "attack" on the
US and the world, vowed toreassure dozens of allies that
Washington remains a credible See # 15 Page 11
WikiLeaks draws global backlashSArabia wants
chip implanted in
Gitmo captivesRIYADH: Saudi KingAbdullah proposed implantingGuantanamo detainees withelectronic chips to monitor
See # 14 Page 11
Karzai letsoutlaws off
KABUL: Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai has ordered therelease of numerous dangerouscriminals and drug-traffickersdetained by US-led coalition
See # 13 Page 11
NKorea losingvalue to ChinaWASHINGTON: Chineseofficials are increasingly exas-perated with close ally NorthKorea and some feel China'serratic neighbor is losing its
See # 12 Page 11
Kayani using
the ParliamentISLAMABAD: Wikileaksreleased sensitive documentsalleging that the Gen AshfaqKayani’s opposition led to theconflict on the Kerry-Lugar
See # 11 Page 11
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Where inflationis constantly on the risingtrend, and prices of commodi-ties skyrocketing, Ogra in anunexpected move on Tuesdaystayed th petrloeum prices atthe current level for theDecember, while Authorityalso fixed the margin for deal-ers and distributors.
The current price of petrole-um stands at Rs72.96 per litrewhereas that of diesel project-ed at Rs78.33 per litre.
The announcement came lateTusday night - as was expecteddue to the last day ofNovember.
According to analysts, thisdecision of keeping the prices
at the present level wouldindeed provide a sort of reliefto masses, who were anticipat-ing an increment in the petrole-um products prices.
Earlier in October, Ogra hadincreased the prices of petrole-um products by more than fiveper cent - citing the rising trendin the international market anddecided to pass on the effectsto the consumers.
The inflation estimates havesince been revised up to 14.5per cent for the current yearbecause of disruptions in thesupply of food items.
It is relevant to mention herethat State Bank of PakistanMonday in attemp to curbdown the inflation has alsostepped up the discount rate.
Ogra keeps POLprices unchanged
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hasdecided to make a request toInternational Monetary Fund(IMF) to extend its $ 11 billionstand-by programme for threemonths on the apprehension ofexpected delay on the approvalof Reform General Sales Tax(RGST) from the Parliament.
Pakistan's IMF programme isgoing to be end on December 31,
2010 and the request would bemade to extend it till March 2011.
RGST bill seems difficult tobe passed from the parliament inthe upcoming session startingfrom December 20, sources told.Provinces are still didn't reach onany agreement on the bill. IMFhas conditioned its next trancheswith the approval of RGST billfrom parliament. -Online
Pak to buy moretime from IMF
Staff reporterKARACHI: Term FinanceCertificates (TFCs) constitutea substantial part of invest-ments of the Mutual Funds --more precisely of the AssetManagement Companies --
investing in corporate bonds.However, sector experts
believe that Mutual FundsAssociation of Pakistan(MUFAP) is not serious inresolving the pricing issue.
See # 10 Page 11
Mufap urged toiron out issues
ISLAMABAD: PakistanArmy has once again sought itsfull share of the CoalitionSupport Fund (CSF) from thegovernment and made it clearthat army is spending from itsbudget in war against terrorand the delay in payments iscausing a set back in its opera-tional capabilities.
Defense sources told Onlinethat Pakistan Army has writtennumerous letters to federalfinance ministry but despite
that federation has not paid dueshare of the army from theCSF.
The federal govt has so farpaid the army Rs1.6 billion outof Rs11.59 billion it owes tothe army due to which theoperational capabilities of thearmy are suffering.
Sources told that the army ispaying the expenditures of thewar on terror through its ownbudget. Sources told that the
See # 8 Page 11
Army demandsfull share of CSF
Aamir Abidi
KARACHI: Fertiliser offtakedepicted a surge of 51 per centYoY in October 2010 to 941ktonnes against 623k tonnes insame period last year, as waterreceded and dealers piled upinventories on expectation ofRGST on fertiliser.
According to the latest datareleased by National FertilizerDevelopment Centre (NDFC),urea sales marginally down by0.4 per cent in the month of
October to 427k tonnes against429k tonnes in the identicalperiod last year.
On the other hand, Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)offtake remained encouragingduring the period with theindustry registering massivegrowth of 170 per cent on aYoY basis.
DAP sales reached at 371ktonnes in Oct 2010, comparedwith 137k tonnes in October2009. Average retail prices of
See # 18 Page 11
Fertiliser offtakerises 51pc in Oct
YoY: urea down 0.4pc, DAP up 170pc
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's toprice export body said Tuesdayit aims to export 4 milliontonnes in fiscal year 2010/11,about 1 million tonnes morethan previous estimates madeafter destructive floods inAugust.
Irfan Ahmed Sheikh, chair-man of the Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan(REAP), said total rice produc-tion would be nearly 6 milliontonnes.
A senior food ministry offi-cial, however, low-balledReap's estimate and said outputwould be about 5 milliontonnes. "We dispute the
See # 17 Page 11
Rice export seenat 4mn T this yr
PSO eyes30pc stake
in PRLGhulam Raza Rajani
KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil(PSO) intends to acquire 30 percent shares in Pakistan Refinerylimited (PRL) - shares currentlyhold by Shell Petroleum Co,London.
As per notice sent by theCompany to KSE, company willconduct due diligence of PRLand on the basis of the findingswill decide whether it will pro-ceed with the proposed acquisi-tion.
In case PSO proceeds with theacquisition, a subsequent tenderoffer will be made as stipulatedin the Ordinance.
BMA Capital ManagementLimited has been appointed byPSO as the lead Advisory Firm/Financial Advisor to the transac-tion and the manager to the offer.
Fed Cabinetswells to 60
ISLAMABAD: Two new minis-ters have been inducted in thefederal cabinet bringing the totalnumber of federal ministers to40 and state ministers to 18.
According to state-owned tele-vision, Haji Khuda Baksh tookoath in a simple but dignifiedceremony as federal ministerwhile Istaqbal Khan as StateMinister respectively.
It is pertinent to mention thatas President Asif Ali Zardari ison a visit to Sri Lanka, SpeakerNA Dr Fehmida Mirza took oathfrom the ministers.
With these two new inductionsthe federal cabinet has swelledto 60 members that is 40 federal
See # 9 Page 11
RGST Bill
NA bodymeetstoday
ISLAMABAD: Three-day ses-sion of National AssemblyStanding Committee onFinance would start here fromtoday (Wednesday) forapproval of Reformed GeneralSales Tax (RGST) Bill andFinance Amendment Bill 2010.
The session would be chairedby Chairperson of the commit-tee Fauzia Wahab.
In today's session the NAbody would take stock of pub-lic reservations regardingRGST and the committeewould hold public hearing inthis regard.
On the 2nd and 3rd day theclause wise approval of RGSTand Finance Amendment Bill2010 would be given. The gov-ernment is facing a tough timein getting this bill passed as itsallies MQM and JUI-F arestrongly opposing the RGST.
In the 17 member committeePPP only has 6 members andin order to get the billapproved it needs 9 memberson its side. -Online
6 deadin Bannu
suicide attackBANNU: Six people including2 policemen have been killedand 22 wounded in a suicideattack on a police mobile vanhere, while another suspiciousman was arrested from thescene.
According to police, a mobilevan was on a routine roundwhen a suicide attacker blewhimself up when the van wasapproaching Milad Park,killing two constables sitting inthe van and 4 other people whowere nearby and wounding 22people.
The injured have been shiftedto the district hospital Bannuand few of the injured are saidto be in critical condition.
Police cordoned off the areaand started the search opera-tion. DIG Iftikhar Khan hasconfirmed the number of thecasualties and said that it was a
P E S H AWA R / S U K K U R :Prime Minister Syed YousufRaza Gilani Tuesday has saidthat Pakistan Army has theauthority to decide when andwhere to launch the operationin North Waziristan, he added,however government has givenits nod for such operation.
Talking to media here he saidthat there is no pressure on usregarding launching an offen-sive in NWA the govt had givenpermission to launch the offen-sive before hand.
The army first launchedoffensive in Malakand andSouth Waziristan. He said pub-lic apprehensions on RGSTwould be removed.
In response to a question he
said that Wikileaks reports areunauthentic.
Earlier, addressing the PPPworkers at its 44th foundingday at Peshawar PM Gilaniagain made it clear that PPP isnot a mere political party only
but it is a name of ideology,movement and mission addingsacrifices made by our leadersare invaluable for the sake ofthe national interest of thecountry.
Killers of Benazir Bhuttowould be penalised and will begiven rigorous punishmenttooth and nail; Prime MinisterSyed Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
Prime Minister went on tosay that "Terrorism isPakistan's biggest problem;Shaheed Benazir Bhutto want-ed to eradicate this menacefrom the country and we arerendering sacrifices to realizethis dream," he said, added thatBB gave her life for Pakistan.
PM said that Pakistan's econ-omy is being badly affected forthe investors are trickling down
See # 7 Page 11
Army to callshots in NWA
PM says govt gave nod for operation
Pledges to expose Benazir Bhutto's killersSays Wikileaks reports are unauthentic
No sugarshortage inPak: Gilani
SUKKUR: Prime MinisterSyed Yousuf Gilani has saidthat there is no scarcity of sugarin the country as propaganda isjust meant to defame the gov-ernment.
Addressing a foundation-daygathering of Pakistan Peoples
See # 6 Page 11
TFCs pricing mechanism
RGST Bill Approval
Dealers, distributors margin fixed
2 Wednesday, December 1, 2010
TV PROGRAMMES
WEDNESDAY
Time Programmes7:00 News
8:00 News
9:05 Subah Savere Maya ke Sath
11:00 News
12:00 News
13:10 Newsbeat (Rpt)
14:10 Tonight With Jasmeen (Rpt)
15:00 News
16:00 News
17:30 Samaa Metro
18:00 News
18:30 Samaa Sports
19:30 Crime Scene
20:03 Newsbeat
21:00 News
22:03 Tonight With Jasmeen
23:00 News
23:30 24
WEDNESDAY
Time Programmes8:00 Chai Time (Rpt)
9:00 News
9:15 Pehla Sauda
10:00 News
10:15 Bazaar
11:00 News
11:05 Ghar Ka Kharch
12:00 News
12:15 Power Lunch
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13:05 Islamabad Say (Rpt)
14:00 News
15:02 Akhri Sauda
15:30 Tax Time (Rpt)
16:15 Karobari Dunya
17:05 Ghar Ka Kharch(Rpt)
18:05 Chai Time
19:00 News
19:05 Aap Ka Paisa
19:30 Mang Raha Hai Pakistan
20:00 News
20:05 Islamabad Say
21:00 Pakistan Aaj Raat
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22:05 Doosra Pehlu
23:00 News
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0:00 News
FPCCI callsfor Chineseoutlay in PakKARACHI: Tariq Sayeed,Patron-in-Chief Pak-ChinaBusiness Council ofFPCCI said that there arelots of opportunities forChinese companies tocome and invest inPakistan through making100 per cent investment orby establishing joint ven-tures in Pakistan.
A high powered delega-tion from China Councilfor the Promotion ofInternational Trade,Sichuan Province (CCPIT)Chengdu, China headed byLi Li visited FPCCI, espe-cially to invite TariqSayeed, Patron-in-ChiefPak-China BusinessCouncil of FPCCI andSultan Ahmed Chawla,President FPCCI to partici-pate in the 2nd South Asia -Sichuan BusinessPromotion Seminar to beheld in Chengdu on 25-26February 2011. They havealso requested TariqSayeed to invite 2-5 mem-bers of FPCCI to attend thesaid event. Tariq Sayeedthanked CCPIT for provid-ing space to FPCCI foropening its representativeoffice in Chengdu whichhas started operation since01, September 2010.-NNI
Pakistanreaches ITFforum semisISLAMABAD: The win-ner of Microsoft PakistanInnovative Teachers Forum(ITF) competition 2010Saqib Anwar made it to thesemi finals of WorldwideInnovative EducationForum (WWIEF).Microsoft sponsored thetwo winners of ITF to takepart in WWIEF that washeld in Cape Town, SouthAfrica, where winningteachers from all over theworld presented their proj-ects. Out of the 31 semifi-nalists Saqib Anwer wasamong the 12 participants.
Appreciating the efforts ofcontestants, Kamal Ahmad,Country General ManagerMicrosoft Pakistan said,"Teachers play a vital role inimproving the skills of theirstudents.”-PR
Nokiastrikes 3mndownloads
per dayKARACHI: Nokia todayannounced that its OviStore has reached 3 milliondownloads per day, a mile-stone spurred by overallglobal demand and a recentupdate that gives users ofNokia's new Symbiansmartphone family afriendlier look and feel aswell as more popular appsand games.
According to the handoutissued here, the company isalso gaining significantsoftware developermomentum with more than400,000 signing on toNokia in the past 12months, and 92 surpassingthe million download mile-stone for their apps.
In related news, theNokia Qt SoftwareDevelopment Toolkit(SDK) and the Qt SDKcombined have been down-loaded 1.5 million times asdevelopers discover thisapproach can improve thespeed and efficiency of cre-ating apps for mobiledevices, including smart-phones such as the newNokia N8, Nokia C7 andNokia C6-01, which areshipping, and the recentlyannounced Nokia E7.-PR
New headfor NBFI &Modarabaassociation
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: BasheerAhmed Chowdry, ChiefExecutive Officer, TrustModaraba has been electedas Chairman and MurtazaAhmed Ali, CEO, AlliedRental Modaraba) ViceChairman of NBFI &Modaraba Association ofPakistan for the year 2010-12, it has been learnt.
The officers were electedunanimously by theExecutive Committee ofthe Association. The elect-ed members of theExecutive Committee areAbdul Ghaffar Umer(CEO, First ParamountModaraba); Abdus SamadKhan, (CEO, First DawoodInvestment Bank); FarrukhS Ansari (CEO, Saudi PakLeasing Company);Arjumand A Qazi (CEO,SME Leasing);Muhammad Adil Ghaffar,(CEO, First EquityModaraba); Syed ZaheerMehdi, (CEO, StandardChartered Modaraba),Zulfiqar Ali, CEOf,Modaraba Al-Mali);Khaqan Hasnain Ibrahim,CEO, First PunjabModaraba) and AmjadIqbal, General Manager(C&M), Orix LeasingPakistan). These electionswere held in the ExecutiveCommittee of NBFI &Modaraba of Pakistan.
PSO getsMAP
ExcellenceAwards
KARACHI: Pakistan StateOil (PSO) has been recog-nised for its excellent per-formance at the 27thCorporate Excellence Awardswhich were organised by theManagement AssociationPakistan here recently.
PSO was awarded MAPCorporate ExcellenceCertificate in the Oil andGas sector. The Companyhas also been feted byMAP in the past for itsexcellent performance.
Expressing his views onthe occasion, PSOManaging Director, IrfanQureshi, said that PSO'svision is to excel in deliver-ing value to customers asan innovative and dynamicenergy company that getsto the future first. "We con-sider this award as recogni-tion of PSO management'svision towards excellencecombined with the dedica-tion and hard work of allthe employees," he added.
The MAP CorporateExcellence Awards wereinstituted in 1982 to recog-nise companies demonstrat-ing outstanding perform-ance and best corporate gov-ernance practices adjudgedthrough a stringent evalua-tion process by an independ-ent committee.-PR
KARACHI: Tetra Pak,the world's leading foodprocessing and packag-ing solutions company,launched a series offarmer training TV pro-grammes, highlightingthe benefits of the DairyHubs.
This series of 20-minute 15 TV pro-grammes is the first ofits kind consolidated andcomprehensive dairytraining knowledgeaimed at enhancing mil-lions of dairy farmers'knowledge on farmingtechniques, diseases and
vaccination. The trainingcovers a diverse range ofsubject matter incorpo-rating themes such assilage, hay making,deworming and mastitis.The topics are easy tounderstand and can bereadily implemented formaximum benefit of mil-lions of smallholderfarmers. The TV pro-grammes which featurefamous film actressSaima, have been devel-oped considering the cul-tural, regional and edu-cational requirements ofrural dairy farmers.
"By using a popularmass medium like TV,we aim to impart usefulknowledge to farmers inan entertaining andengaging way. We hopeour humble contributionto society can raiseawareness among small-holder farmers andenhance dairy productiv-ity in Pakistan,"remarked Azhar Ali SyedMD Tetra Pak, speakingat the launch ceremony,which was held in theRoyal Palm Golf andCountry Club the otherday.-PR
Tetra Pak on farmertraining drive
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: HSBCPakistan and EllcottSpinning Mills Limited, asubsidiary of the NaginaGroup recently completeda Derivative Deal inLahore.
Commenting on thetransaction, Umar S Khan,Head of Commercial andGlobal Banking at HSBCPakistan said, "We areexcited at this develop-ment. In addition to usingHSBC's global strength tobetter serve its customers,it paves the way to offermore solutions to our cus-tomers."
The Head of GlobalMarkets at HSBCPakistan, Kamran A Khan,said: "This is a very prom-ising endeavor for HSBCPakistan and ESML, and
will go a long way indeepening the strong cor-porate relationship thatwe enjoy."
HSBC is one of thelargest banking and finan-cial services organizationsin the world, with aninternational network ofaround 8000 offices in 87countries and territories inEurope, the Asia Pacificregion, the Americas, theMiddle East and Africa.
In this regard, HSBC is
well placed to offer highlyinnovative financial serv-ices to its customers local-ly and internationally.
With a strong footprintin Trade and SupplyChain services, and a trulyintegrated internationalnetwork, there are manysuch initiatives to come.HSBC is committed toinvesting in the localeconomy, and maintains aconsistent presence inPakistan.
HSBC, ESML inkderivatives deal
KARACHI: MemberNational AssemblyWaseem Akhtar hasappealed to the ChiefMinister of Sindh torelease development fundsfor all districts of Sindhincluding Karachi withoutdelay so that developmentprojects could completeon time.
"I have initiated devel-opment works in my juris-diction with the MNAfunds of Rs120millionwhile more developmentprojects were about tostart soon. Constructionwork of Mehmoodabadroad is completing early tofacilitate the "Azadars"during Muharram-ul-Haram. We have alsodecided to close down theChakragoth Hydrant," hesaid while talking tomedia representatives
after inspecting the underc o n s t r u c t i o nMehmoodabad road onTuesday.
He was accompanied byAdministrator KarachiFazlur Rehman,MD.KWSB SajjadAbbasi, EDO W&SRasheed Mughal,Administrator JamshedTown and other officers.
MNA Waseem Akhtarsaid that the constructionof Mehmoodabad roadwas delayed since longand therefore it has beendecided to solve thisproblem without furtherdelay.
He said that some pend-ing works including repairof leakages in sewerageline and 42 water connec-tions would have to bedone first, as only afterthat the road carpeting will
start.Waseem Akhtar said that
the KWSB has assuredthat all of that would bedone as soon as possible,adding that the effortswere on to solve the prob-lems of residents in LinesArea and PECHS.
He said that the develop-ment projects were suffer-ing due to financial con-straints. People from allover the country were set-tled in Karachi and that iswhy it is called MiniPakistan, therefore devel-opment works in this citymust carry on in any cir-cumstances.
MNA Waseem Akhtarsaid that the decision ofclosure of Chakragothhydrant had been taken onthe demand of the peopleof Akhtar Colony andKashmir Colony.-PPI
MNA appeals forrelease of funds
TFD Report
KARACHI: A Mushairawas organised by a liter-ary organisation, Aashti,in collaboration withCentral Library DHA(DCL) to pay tributes tonoted poet late KhalidAlig here recently.
It was presided by theVice-Chancellor ofKarachi University, DrPirzada Qasim RazaSiddiqui.
Prominent poets pre-sented their poetic verses.They included RasaChughtai, Rafiuddin Raz,Dr Pirzada Qasim RazaSiddiqui, Prof SeharAnsari, Sabir Zafar, SalimKauser, Khawja RaziHaider, Shahida Hasan,Prof Inayat Ali Khan andJaved Saba.
Dr Pirzada Qasim RazaSiddiqui in his addressdescribed the late KhalidAlig as a revolutionary
poet of the contemporaryera who stood fearlesslyand courageously againstall forms of tyranny andinjustices.
He said that Khalid Alighad the conviction,audacity and force ofcharacter to face theonslaught of challengesboldly in most adversecircumstances withoutmaking any compromiseat any cost.
He said that purpose of
all education systems wasto develop and inculcatesuch rare qualities of char-acter in the students.
The Vice Chancellorsaid that pursuance andstudy of modern sciencesand technology was fore-most for progress andadvancement in the pres-ent times.
However, without studyand understanding of liter-ature and poetry, develop-ment and maturity of
mind and personalitywould remain a distantdream.
He appreciated holdingof literary functions likeMushaira as a creative anduseful activity.
Earlier, Khawja RaziHaider in his article onlife of Khalid Alig saidthat the poet reflected thetrue feelings of alleviatedhuman spirits through hispoetry.
Secretary Central
Library DHA (DCL) LtCol (Retd) Rafat Naqvi inhis welcome addressdescribed Mushaira as lit-erary and cultural heritageof our traditions.
He said that DCL wasan emerging educationaland literary centre of thecity which was commit-ted to the promotion ofintellectual, literary, cul-tural and educational val-ues in all its forms andmanifestation.
“Mushaira held at DHA Library”
Aashti showers tribute on Khalid Alig
KARACHI: Sixteen par-ticipants of 10th MidCareer ManagementCourse (MCMC), repre-senting various occupa-tional groups, visited
Trading Corporation ofPakistan (TCP) here onTuesday.
Chairman TCP wel-comed the participants andbriefed them about the on-going business activitiesof TCP and its futureplans. A detailed presenta-tion was also made aboutTCP's role played in thenational economy particu-larly in improving supplyline of essential commodi-ties; provide relief to com-mon man at affordableprices and to overcome theshortage of essential com-modities.
The visiting officerswere informed that TCP is
the trading arm of thegovernment and acts onlyon specificdirections/decisions of theECC ofCabinet/Government and
has recently posted profitof Rs1.632 billions aftertax for the last financialyear. The participantswere also informed thatTCP is fully PPRA Rulescomplaint and has beenendeavouring to maintaincomplete transparency inall procurements.
The participants tookkeen interest in the func-tioning of the organizationand appreciated the effortsmade by TCPManagement in imple-menting the governmentdirectives. Divisionalheads and other concernedOfficers of TCP alsoattended the briefing.-PR
MCMC participants
travel to TCP
TFD Report
KARACHI: WasimAhmed, Director General,Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) along withsenior officials of FIA, visit-ed the Karachi StockExchange [KSE] for a meet-ing with the management,members of the board ofDirectors and the membersof the Exchange includingpast president / chairmen-KSE, with a view to discussissues pertaining to the cap-ital markets of Pakistan andits participants.
The delegation was wel-comed by Haroon Askari,Acting Managing DirectorKSE. Askari while high-lighting the growth anddevelopment of the KarachiStock Exchange hasfocused on issues pertain-ing to market disciplinesfor investors and members'protection. He assured theDirector General FIA ofExchange's fullest coopera-tion in any possible futureinvestigation that may becarried out by the agency.
DG FIA assured the audi-
ence that FIA does notwant to create an impres-sion of any harassmentamong the business com-munity. He assured theExchange that in case ofany investigation due carewill be exercised in theworking of the agencywhen it comes to bodieslike Stock Exchange, as hefully understands the sensi-tivity of investors and anyadverse impact in the pub-lic perception that might begenerated over the issue ofFIA investigations aroundthese trade bodies.
Wasim Ahmed, DirectorGeneral, FederalInvestigation Agency(FIA) said that the recentvisit by his team to KSE ispart of the awareness andgoodwill drive by FIA tokeep all stakeholders in theloop with FIA's likely workin relation to respectivetrade bodies. He furtherinformed that he intends topay a similar visit to othertrade bodies of the countryincluding Chamber ofCommerce (FPCCI andKCCI), in near future.
DG FIA paysvisit to KSE
KARACHI: Famous poets read their poetry to the audience in a poetic session held in the memory of Khalid Alig at DHA library.-Staff Photo
KARACHI: S Anjum Bashir, ChairmanTrading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) presentingcommemorative sheild to H U Gandapur, Director
of the Delegation of National Institute ofManagement, Peshawar.-Staff Photo
LAHORE: President LCCI Shehzad Ali Malik and VicePresident Stockhome Chambers Charlotte Kalin sign
agreement to promote bilateral trade.-Staff Photo
KARACHI: Consul General of Thailand Udom, GM ThaiAirways Polapat, GM Karachi Marriott hotel Faysal Khan,and Chairman PTF&BF, Arif Suleman, inaugurating ThaiFood Festival & Cultural Show at the hotel.-Staff Photo
MUMBAI: The Indian rupeeseesawed on Tuesday beforeclosing marginally stronger aspositive sentiment due to a bet-ter-than-hoped economicexpansion in the Septemberquarter was offset by sharplosses in the euro.
India's economy grew morethan expected in the secondquarter, boosted by farm outputand manufacturing, puttingpressure on the central bank totighten monetary policyalthough a rate increase nextmonth still looks unlikely.
The partially convertiblerupee closed at 45.88/89 perdollar, off its low of 46.12, itsweakest since Sept. 17, and 0.1per cent above Monday's closeof 45.93/94.
On the month, however, therupee fell 3.2 per cent, in itsbiggest monthly decline sinceMay, when it had shed 4.3 percent and snapped four consecu-tive monthly gains.
Foreign funds bought $59.4million worth of shares onMonday, latest data shows, tak-
ing net investments to a record$28.7 billion in shares so far in2010, on top of the $17.5 bil-lion purchased last year.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contractswere at 46.20, weaker than theonshore spot rate, suggesting abearish near-term outlook.
In the currency futures mar-ket, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contract onthe National Stock Exchange,MCX-SX and United StockExchange closed at 46.1325,46.1275 and 46.1350 respec-tively, with the total traded vol-ume on the three exchanges atan average $6 billion. -Reuters
Indian rupee edges upon strong GDP data
3Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Currency Rates
Karachi: The following are the London Inter-Bank Offered Rates (LIBOR).
British Members Association Interest Settlement Rates.
AT 11:00 LONDON TIME 30/11/2010
A USD GBP CAD EUR JPY
O/N 0.23625 0.55313 0.98000 0.44875 SN 0.09000
1WK 0.25328 0.56063 1.01500 0.54125 0.10063
2WK 0.25500 0.56625 1.05000 0.62875 0.10563
1MO 0.26063 0.57875 1.08917 0.75375 0.12000
2MO 0.28000 0.63063 1.15000 0.85000 0.14750
3MO 0.30031 0.73875 1.22167 0.96750 0.18750
4MO 0.34750 0.82250 1.29750 1.03000 0.24875
5MO 0.40656 0.92875 1.36417 1.10875 0.30563
6MO 0.46100 1.03250 1.43667 1.20500 0.35563
7MO 0.51375 1.11000 1.50250 1.25000 0.40875
8MO 0.56625 1.19375 1.57667 1.30125 0.45500
9MO 0.61625 1.27625 1.64000 1.34875 0.49875
10MO 0.66813 1.35250 1.71167 1.39750 0.52750
11MO 0.72475 1.42125 1.79667 1.44375 0.55625
12MO 0.78656 1.48813 1.88667 1.48750 0.58625
Countries Selling Buying BuyingTT & OD TT Clean OD/T.CHQ
JPY Prelim Industrial Production m/m -1.8% -2.6% -1.6%
AUD Current Account -7.8B -6.6B -5.4B
JPY Housing Starts y/y 6.4% 10.0% 17.7%
EUR CPI Flash Estimate y/y 1.9% 1.9% 1.9%
EUR Unemployment Rate 10.1% 10.1% 10.0%
CAD GDP m/m -0.1% 0.1% 0.3%
USD S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y 0.6% 1.2% 1.7%
USD Chicago PMI 62.5 60.1 60.6
USD CB Consumer Confidence 54.1 52.7 49.9
Source Events Actual Forecast Previous
5:30 AUD GDP q/q 0.5% 1.2%
6:00 CNY Manufacturing PMI 54.8 54.7
12:00 EUR German Retail Sales m/m 1.3% -1.7%
12:00 GBP Nationwide HPI m/m -0.3% -0.7%
1st-7th GBP Halifax HPI m/m 0.3% 1.8%
14:30 GBP Manufacturing PMI 54.8 54.9
18:15 USD ADP Non-Farm Employment Change 70K 43K
Previous Day
Top Economic Events
Central Bank Next Meeting Last Change Current
Interest Rate
Bank of Canada Dec 07 2010 Sep 08 2010 1%
Bank of England Dec 09 2010 Mar 05 2009 0.50%
Bank of Japan Dec 21 2010 Dec 19 2008 0.10%
European Central Bank Dec 02 2010 May 07 2009 1%
Federal Reserve Dec 14 2010 Dec 16 2008 0.25%
Swiss National Bank Dec 16 2010 Mar 12 2009 0.25%
The Reserve Bank of Australia Dec 07 2010 Nov 02 2010 4.75%
Major Central Banks Overview
Division of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)KARACHI, November 30,2010 Treasury Management Division of National Bankof Pakistan (NBP) Monday issued the following Exchange rates:
Revaluation RatesTreasury Bills / PIBs / FIBs Holding Applicable for November 30, 2010
NEW YORK: The euro slidacross the board on Tuesday,plunging to 2-1/2-month lowsagainst the US dollar, with lossesseen accelerating on naggingworries about euro-zone sover-eign debt.
A financial rescue deal forIreland failed to contain conta-gion fears as the euro fell belowthe critical $1.30 level andinvestors took out many optionsbarriers on the way. The next keyfigure to watch, traders said, is$1.2794, the 61.8 per centretracement of the June toNovember rally.
The euro was down nearly 7per cent on the month, on trackfor its worst monthly perform-ance since May when Greecereceived a 110-billion-eurobailout.
In tandem with euro weakness,the premiums investors demandto hold Spanish and Italian sov-ereign bonds over German debtjumped to lifetime highs whileyields on Portuguese, Irish andBelgian bonds also widened.
"Europe ism a k i n gsome verybad deci-sions withrespect tothe wholeregion andthe curren-cy," said Peter Schiff, chief exec-utive officer at Euro PacificCapital, an asset managementfirm overseeing customeraccounts of about $3 billion.
"They should not have bailedout Greece and Ireland, they
should have allowed them torestructure their debt, andallowed their bondholders totake losses. Countries wouldnow want to go into debt becausethey want those bailouts and thecountries that are responsible get
stuck with the bill," said theConnecticut-based Schiff.
Analysts suggested that giventhe sharply negative sentimenton euro-zone assets, theEuropean Central Bank shouldtake a more active hand in man-
aging the crisis. As a result, talkof an ECB quantitative easingwould not be surprising, saidBoris Schlossberg, director ofFX research at GFT in NewYork.
The ECB's meeting thisThursday is thereforecrucial as investorswill be looking forcomments on how thebank could helpaddress growing hys-teria in the credit andcurrency market. It isalso widely expected
to keep rates on hold and sourcessay it could extend banks' accessto unlimited three-month fundsbeyond January.
The euro fell to $1.2969 onEBS, its lowest since Sept. 15,before recovering to $1.3022,
still down 0.7 per cent. Sometraders said there is minor sup-port at $1.2920, the Sept. 6 high.That level preceded a steep rallyin the euro that took it all the wayto that early November high at$1.4283. Some traders said$1.3040 could act as resistanceon any intraday rebound.
The euro zone single currencyslid to 1.2934 Swiss francs,108.33 yen, and 83.520 penceagainst sterling, all more than10-week lows.
With the spotlight on the euro,the dollar continued to gain, hit-ting a more than two-month highat 81.444 against a currency bas-ket, lifted by safe-haven flowsand recent evidence of animproving US economy. It lasttraded up nearly 0.3 per cent at81.058. -Reuters
Battered euro slides to2-1/2-mth low against dollar
SHANGHAI: China's yuanwas moderately lower againstthe US dollar late Tuesday,after the US dollar strength-ened further against the euroovernight because of continuedconcerns over European sover-eign credit.
But the yuan drew some sup-port from banks and businessesthat believe the currency is atan attractive level before itresumes its appreciation trendagainst the dollar shortly.
On the over-the-counter mar-ket, the dollar was at 6.6670around 0930 GMT, up fromMonday's close of 6.6606. Ittraded between 6.6625 and6.6700.
The People's Bank of Chinaset the dollar-yuan central pari-ty rate at 6.6762, the highestfixing since Nov. 3 when it wasset at 6.6818, and up from6.6700 Monday. That cameafter the euro fell below $1.31for the first time since Sept. 21in New York trade on Mondaydue to concerns over a deterio-ration in the European sover-eign debt crisis and despite theapproval of an 85 billion eurorescue package for Ireland byEuropean financial leaders onSunday.
At 0930 GMT, the euro was
at $1.3009, down from $1.3120in late New York tradeMonday.
"The general market trendover the past few sessions hasbeen to sell dollars to lock inthe attractive exchange rate,but the dollar-yuan won't falltoo much because worriesabout euro-zone debt will keepthe dollar strong relative toother major currencies," said aGuangdong-based foreignbank trader.
Another trader said the mar-ket is also bracing for a poten-tial dollar short squeeze asbusinesses' routine month-endsettlement needs may create aglut of dollar bids, catchingbanks' trading desks short.
"One must be cautious for apotential dollar short squeezelater in the session as it's theend of the month," said aShanghai-based trader at anEuropean bank.
But she said yuan demanddominated the market in thepast two sessions. "For many,the dollar above 6.6700 is agood level to sell," she said.Offshore, the one-year non-deliverable forward was at6.5433/6.5483, up from6.5400/6.5470 late Monday.-Agencies
Yuan weakens asdollar strengthens
LONDON: Sterling rose to two-month highs versus an ailingeuro on Tuesday as Europeansovereign risk concerns under-mined the single currency,which in turn hampered risk sen-timent and supported the dollaragainst the pound.
The euro skidded to 10-weeklows against the dollar after arescue package for Irelandfailed to dampen speculation
other bailouts would be neededin the euro-zone.
At 1603 GMT, the euro tradednear the day's low of 83.52pence, its lowest since lateSeptember. The single currencyfell broadly, shedding one percent on the day versus the dol-lar, the Swiss franc and nearly 2per cent against the yen.
Month-end euro/sterlingdemand from a major Europeansovereign account was wellabsorbed, traders said.
Trade-weighted sterling rose to
81.4, matching a one-week high.Versus the dollar, sterling slippedto a two-month low of $1.5485before recovering to $1.5586. Butsome saw another move lower.
"We may see previous sup-port of $1.5508 turn into resist-ance," one London-based tradersaid. Bids below that were seenaround $1.5480 and at $1.5450,with stop-loss orders seenbelow those levels, traders said.
British consumer confidenceweakened more than expectedin November as people were themost downbeat about theprospects for their personalfinances in almost two years, aGfK/NOP consumer confidencebarometer showed.
Traders largely ignored therelease, with the focus for UKdata on November manufactur-ing PMI data due Wednesday. AReuters poll forecasts a slightfall to 54.60 from 54.90 inOctober. -Reuters
Stg buoyed versusailing euro; lags $
SINGAPORE: The SouthKorean won dipped against thedollar on Tuesday, dented byworries about geopolitical riskson the Korean peninsula,although demand from SouthKorean exporters lent the cur-rency some support.
October industrial output dataadded to downbeat sentiment forSouth Korean assets, after itdeclined for a third consecutivemonth, defying market expecta-tions for a rise and reinforcing theview Asia's fourth-largest econo-my was quickly losing steam. Thewon was last quoted at 1,159.7 tothe dollar, down from Monday'sdomestic finish at 1,152.5.
Thai baht little changedagainst the dollar on the day at
30.17, not far from a two-month low hit the previous day.Thai stocks came under profittaking and fell 0.4 per cent.Thai shares had climbed 1.7 percent on Monday, after a courtdismissed an electoral fundingcase against the party of PrimeMinister Abhisit Vejjajiva, adecision that ensured the gov-ernment's survival.
USD/MYR opened at 3.1600-3.1630 and traded up to 3.1650early before running into freshselling interests. Europeannames whacked the pair lowerafter the Australian dollarsurged on better than expectedQ3 export and public spendingnumbers and buildingapprovals data for October.
Leveraged funds were toutedsellers on the way down too.
The pattern on KRW hasbecome quite predictable withoffshore markets buying theUSD up to 1165-70 and localsselling it back to 1150 next day.
USD/KRW has traded a broad1148.5-1162 range in Asia onTuesday. The pair opened at1161 and almost immediatelycame under pressure. The movehigher through the KRW NDFsovernight was unrealistic andexporters were quick to seizeon the attractive entry levels.Some players mentioned thedecision by South Korea toabandon an artillery drill onWednesday may have aided theKRW. -Reuters
Asian currencies
SKorean won dips; bahthovers near 2-mth low
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: The Australian andNew Zealand dollars looked set on Tuesday toround off their worst monthly fall in months assliding Chinese shares and an embattled euro lededgy investors to sell risky assets.
By early evening, the Australian dollar was on thedefensive at $0.9614, about mid-way between aneight-week low of $0.9568 hit overnight and theday's high of $0.9659. Immediate support waspegged at the overnight low, a break of which maypave the way for a fall to the October low of$0.9541. For all of November, the Aussie dollar lost2.4 per cent, its biggest drop in any month sinceMay. The retreat, initially driven by profit-taking,gained speed after Europe's nagging debt problemsgave investors more reason to shun risk.
An over 3 per cent slide in China shares onTuesday also did little for the mood. Cash-strapped Chinese banks and brokerages were saidto be selling shares to raise money in the face oftighter monetary conditions.
Still, some thought the latest pull-back meant itwas a good time to buy the currency given
Australia's resilient economy would likely seemore interest rate hikes next year.
Indeed, domestic data showed exports were lessof a drag on growth last quarter than many feared.
Analysts now expect Wednesday's growthreport to show the economy grew 0.5 per cent inthe third quarter, lifting growth from a year ago toa robust 3.5 per cent.
The New Zealand dollar revisited the one-monthlow of $0.7429 plumbed overnight, testing supportat $0.7430, as the decline in Chinese stocks andfears of further tightening eroded confidence. Thekiwi is now seen as likely to test support levelsaround $0.7400, last seen in early October.
Data showing new house NZ buildingapprovals fell 2 per cent in October added to thepicture of a weak housing sector in a patchy eco-nomic recovery, which offers no reason for thecentral bank to resume rate rises any time soon.
Both currencies edge lower against the yen,with the Aussie at 80.83 from 81.23 yen, with theKiwi at 62.50 from 62.78. Aussie slightly outper-forming the kiwi, rising to NZ$1.2917. -Reuters
Australian, NZ dollars inworst monthly loss in months
Swiss franchits 10-weekhigh vs euro
ZURICH: The Swiss franc hit a10-week high against the euro onTuesday, adding to strong gainsthe previous day as investors,worried about mounting euro-zone sovereign debt problems,seek a safe haven for their cash.
The worst may not yet be overfor the single currency after a res-cue package for Ireland failed todampen speculation that otherbailouts will be needed in theeuro-zone.
"At least from a fundamentalpoint of view and aware of theincreased Swiss franc long posi-tioning very little speaks in favourof a materially higher euro-Swissfranc exchange rate anytimesoon," said UBS economist RetoHuenerwadel.
The franc traded 0.9 per centstronger against the euro com-pared to the New York close, trad-ing at 1.3011 per euro at 0823GMT. The franc was up 0.7 percent against the dollar at 0.9933per dollar, after pushing just pastparity the previous day.Following a sharp decline inSeptember, the UBS consumptionindicator rose by 0.02 points to1.72 in October, signaling stronggrowth in consumption led by animprovement in retail businessactivity and growing new car reg-istrations. -Reuters
Malaysia ringgit off day's low, leveraged funds buy
Contagion fears weigh as peripheral bond spreads widen
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Deficiencyof energyproducts
According to a news item published in a localnewspaper a study conducted on Pakistan'shydro carbon reserves, the country is headingfast towards worst gas crisis. Seven of its majorreservoirs, currently contributing 65 per cent oftotal gas supply, will completely deplete by2014-15. The three major fields namely Sui,Uch and Qadirpur are depleting at an alarmingpace.
The study conducted by the foreign consult-ants on the request of the Government ofPakistan says that while gas demand is increas-ing by 5 per cent per annum there has been nocorresponding increase in supply. In fact the gapbetween demand and supply is growing, evidentfrom massive load shedding of gas undertakenthroughout the country.
Pakistan's daily gas demand is forecast to growto 5.6 billion cubic feet (bcf) by 2014-15, butproduction is likely to go down substantiallyfrom the current level of around 4 bcf. In factPakistan's gas production has come down from5 bcf/day in 2007 to 3.9 bcf/day during 2010.
As against this a report published in anothernewspaper says domestic daily oil and gas pro-duction increased by 2 per cent to 765,000 bar-rels oil equivalent (boe) during 4MFY11 against750,000 boe in 4MFY10 mainly due toenhancement of production from Tal blockfields Manzalai and Makori.
While oil production increased by one per centto 64,400 barrels per day (bpd) from 63,900bpd, gas production surged by 2.1 per cent to 4bcf from 3.94 bcf during the period underreview.
According to a report of InvestCap country'soil production has increased, though marginallybenefiting from recovery in Adhi, Bela, Chanda,Mela, and Naspha field cumulatively contribut-ing 28 per cent to country's oil production.
Similarly, gas production also increased fromQadirpur and Kandhkot posting cumulativeincrease of 2.3 per cent. However, a point ofconcern is OGDC's oil and gas production hasdeclined by 4.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent respec-tively during 4MFY11.
There is also a need to put the LNG terminal inplace on war footings as this winter gas shortfallis likely to exceed 1000mmcfd. It is necessaryto remind the government that this shortfall canbe overcome by bringing down UFG of Suitwins and resolving litigation faced by some ofthe major gas field discovered lately.
Production reports provide some comfort thatthe situation is not as alarming as portrayed inthe report prepared by the foreign consultants.Experts also say that country has enough gasreserves to meet the demand for next 15 years.However, it is necessary to expedite explo-ration and production activities in the countryto maintain self sufficiency in gas over the fore-seeable future.
4Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Amir A. Ashary
Editor: Shakil H. Jafri
Executive Editor: Manzar Naqvi
Honorary Advisory Board
Haseeb Khan, FCA
Asim Abbas Ashary, CPA
Akhtar M. Zaidi, FCA
Dr. A. Hadi Shahid, FCA
Muhammad Arif
S. Muneer Hussain Rizvi
Khurram Shehzad, CFA
Prof. Zakaria Sajid (KU)
Zahid Bukhari SVP HBL (retd)
Ismat Sabir
Head office
111-C, Jami Commercial Street 11, Phase VII, DHA KarachiTelephone: 92-21-5311893-6 Fax: 92-21-5388428
The Naked Aggression of NorthKorea against people of SouthKorea is the latest attack in a
long list of assaults committed over theYears.
The unprovoked artillery and how-itzer attack on South Korean villageresulted in the death of four citizensincluding two civilians and seriousinjuries to at least 19 others. The unpro-voked attack was so fierce that hun-dreds of South Korean villagers had tobe evacuated for the safety of theirlives.
It is to be pointed out that this is thesecond very serious aggression againstSouth Korea. The North Korean hadearlier destroyed a South Korean navycorvette which caused death of 41 sol-diers.
The entire South Korean nation hasbeen angered by unprovoked NorthKorean attack and resin as one torepulse them. They have vowed to stopthese attacks by retaliating force withforce. The following is the chain ofevents which shows how much restraintand patience has been shown by theSouth Korean government and people.
Chronology of eventsl On November 23, the North
Korean military fired around 170artillery shells, from 14:34 to 15:41,into waters near and on to YeonpyeongIsland in the West Sea. According to therules of engagement, the South Koreanarmed forces promptly returned fireafter the initial firing by North Korea,leading to a clash between the twocountries.l The North Korean military fired
coastal artillery and howitzer shellsfrom its Gaemeori and Mudo bases inKangryong District of HwanghaeProvince, in two rounds of firing,
killing four people (2 marines and 2civilians) and injuring 19 (16 marinesand 3 civilians).l The South Korean government has
put all its armed forces on high alertand is closely monitoring any signs ofadditional provocations by NorthKorea.
North Korea's Provocation
l Domestically, since the third-gen-eration power succession to Kim Jong-un became official through the PartyConference (Sep. 28), the NorthKorean top elite, literally "sharing acommon destiny", has been stabilized,but discontent continues among themiddle class and general population.l On the economic front, there have
been no tangible progress necessary forsettling the succession process, whilethe South Korean government's sternmeasures against North Korea imple-mented on May 24 after the sinking ofthe South Korean Navy corvetteCheonan (Mar. 26) and internationalsanctions imposed on the country inthis regard have further aggravated itseconomic situation.l North Korea faces the need to
establish Kim Jong-un, who lacks expe-rience and qualifications, as a "militaryleader" in a short period of time. Also,they need to intentionally create tensionto garner support and loyalty from theNorth Koreans currently critical of thethird-generation power succession.l In terms of its relations with the
South Korea, North Korea has recentlyengaged in a staged peace offensive togain economic benefits and create con-ditions for dialogue with the US.Despite such efforts, it is difficult forNorth Korea to expect any results dueto the South Korea's principled policytoward the country.
l North Korea has excessive confi-dence over its nuclear capability whilehaving made a misjudgment that"potential economic risks" would limitthe South Korea's response in case ofany provocations by North Korea.l Externally, North Korea tried to put
pressure on the US by revealing its ura-nium enrichment facility, while usingChina, based on the recently intensifiedties with the country, as a buttress. But,this only resulted in strengthening USstance toward North Korea.l The display of nuclear capability
by North Korea followed by the attackusing conventional arms were intendedto bring the US to the negotiating tableby highlighting the need for "urgentfreeze of its nuclear program and dis-cussions on a peace treaty."
New Aspects of RecentProvocations
l Unlike the past when North Koreahad only threatened the five islands inthe West Sea, it became adventuristenough to actually carry out armedprovocations.l While North Korea's acts of provo-
cation on the South Korea typicallytook place separately from its creationof a crisis situation targeting the outsideworld, North Korea this time conductedan artillery provocation (Nov.23) short-ly after it disclosed its uranium enrich-ment facility to Dr. Siegfried Heckerwho was visiting North Korea(Nov.12).l Given that Kim Jong-un has been
participating in military affairs sincehis appointment as Vice Chairman ofthe Party Central Military Commission(Sep. 28), it is likely that Kim Jong-unled the military provocation against theROK for the first time as part of theefforts to amass military achievements.
North Korea's PreposterousExcuses
l Immediately after its artilleryprovocation on Yeonpyeong Island onNovember 23, the Supreme Commandof the Korean People's Army pro-claimed, "South Korea perpetrated suchreckless military provocation as firingshells inside the territorial waters ofNorth Korea, so we took such militarystep as reacting to the military provoca-tion with a physical strike."l The above-mentioned firing exer-
cise of the South Korea military is aregular quarterly exercise which lastsmore than 10 years, and the firing washeaded toward the territorial waters ofthe ROK (Southwest), not North Korea.Notification was sent to North Koreaprior to the exercise in conformation ofthe normal procedure.
South Korea Position
l The South Korean governmentdescribed North Korea's artilleryprovocation on Yeonpyeong Island as aclear violation of the UN Charter, theArmistice Treaty and the Protocol onthe Implementation and Observance ofthe South-North Basic Agreement of1992 on non-aggression.l Being aware that North Korea,
anxious to settle its third-generationhereditary succession, is likely to con-tinue provocations in order to seek abreakthrough, the South Korea govern-ment plans to take decisive measures todeter the North's further provocation inclose collaboration with our allies.l The South Korean government is
expecting that the international com-munity will actively join efforts to deterprovocations of North Korea and main-tain peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Naked Aggression of NKorea
Maimuna Ashraf
India, craving for United NationSecurity Council bid has remaineda clear violator of human rights and
treaties. World is not oblivious of itshuman rights violation in Kashmir.Kashmir is not the only victim; India isa country alleged for disturbing theregional balance and distressing itsneighbors by putting different troubleson them. The most common and seri-ous issue is of water. India deserves tobe called a pilferer that steals from itsneighbors, sticks its thumb at them andbehaves like the local bully. Its waterterrorism is well documented andreported by the international media toobut result is a cloudy judgment due toIndia's economic strength and its sig-nificance in the region. Indian waterterrorism has created severe problemsfor its neighbors Bangladesh, Bhutan,Nepal and Pakistan.
India has dispute with Bangladeshover Farraka Barrage, with Nepal overMahakali River and with Pakistan over1960 Indus Water Treaty to turn theagricultural land of its neighbors intobarren. Pakistan is the most effectedvictim of India's water terrorism due toillegal occupation of Kashmir by Indiabecause all of the rivers providingwater to Pakistan, route throughKashmir. India is active in buildingdams on all rivers flowing into
Pakistan from occupied Kashmir to getback the control of water of westernrivers in violation of Indus Treaty. Thisis being done under well thought outstrategy to leave Pakistan's link-canalsystem redundant, destroy agriculture.
Commissioner Indus Water BasinTreaty (IWBT) Jamaat Ali Shah hasaccused India of violating IWBT byconstructing Kishanganga, Nimmo-Bazgo and other hydropower Projects
on the rivers and turn Pakistan into adesert.
Pakistan has warned India numeroustimes that Pakistan will go to war onthe sharing of waters of the Indus.These threats have been so frequent bypeople at the political, military, bureau-cratic and technical levels that perhapsthese threats have lost the meaningsnow.
Jamaat Ali Shah has revealed thatIndia has plans to construct over 100Hydropower Projects on the threerivers (Jhelum, Indus and Chenab),which would affect not only the flowof water into Pakistan but the environ-ment of the region would also be
severely affected. Besides, India hadnearly completed the 22-km tunnel todivert Kishanganga (Neelum) waters toWullar Lake in violation of the IndusWaters Treaty and was working tocomplete the 330MW project by 2016.The project would severely affect thePakistan's right over the river, reducethe river flows into Pakistan and min-imise its power generation capacity ofthe 969MW Neelum Jhelum
Hydropower project nearMuzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir. Withthe diversion of this water, Pakistanwould face deficit of 21 per cent waterwhich would reduce 16 per cent powerproduction causing the loss of about Rs5 billion in one year.
Pakistan has already showed reserva-tions on the construction of Wuller bar-rage in occupied Kashmir where theIndian plans include storing water andthen tunneling it to the Wuller Lake,where it is constructing 800MW powerhouse. As Pakistan believes that Wullarbarrage can be used as a geostrategicweapon, potential to disrupt the triplecanal project of Pakistan (upper
Jhelum, upper Chenab, Lower BariDoab canals), to badly affect theNeelum-Jehlum hydropower project,to affect agriculture in Azad Kashmir,would dry 5.6 million acres of land ofPunjab's cultivable land, would dryMangla dam and would result in loadshedding if Pakistan does not getenough water to run its turbines.Jamaat Shah said that India started theWuller barrage project quietly in 1985and Pakistan got information about thisproject in 1987. Pakistan a raisedobjection with the result the work wassuspended which has not been resumedso far. 'So far 13 secretary level roundsof talks have been held between thetwo countries but the issue is still pend-ing'.
Also by taking advantage of its influ-ence over Afghanistan, India has suc-ceeded in convincing Karzai regime tobuild a dam on River Kabul and setupKama Hydroelectric Project using0.5MAF of Pakistan water. It hasoffered technical assistance for the pro-posed project which will have seriousrepercussions on the water flow inRiver Indus. As Pakistan's Neelum-Jhelum project is likely to be complet-ed by 2017. India has doubled itsefforts to complete the Kishangangaproject by 2016, so that it have thePakistani project declared redundant,since whosoever completes the projectearlier, will receive top priority.
Indian Thirst for Water
As Pakistan's Neelum-Jhelum project is likely to be
completed by 2017. India has doubled its efforts to complete
the Kishanganga project by 2016, so that it could have the
Pakistani project declared redundant, since whosoever
completes the project earlier, will receive top priority.
Yemen Takes the fall for US DronesLeaked documents reveal that Yemen
has been covering up for the US in thefight against al Qaeda by saying publiclythat attacks initiated by the StateDepartment were directed by Yemen."We'll continue saying the bombs areours, not yours," Yemeni President AliAbdullah Saleh told General DavidPetraeus in January 2010. The cover up,made necessary by severe distrust of theUS in the Middle East, promptedYemen's prime minister to joke abouthow the president had "lied" to his par-liament about the strikes.
China Hacked Google and the Dalai Lama
The Chinese government was behindthe much-publicized cyber attack onGoogle's computer network this year,according to "a Chinese contact" whotold the US Embassy in Beijing about "acoordinated campaign of computer sabo-tage carried out by government opera-tives." US officials have previouslydeclined to finger the Chinese govern-ment publicly for the attacks, but theWikiLeaks cable makes clear thatBeijing directed hacks into not onlyGoogle, but also US and Western allies'computers, the Gmail accounts ofChinese dissidents, and even the DalaiLama's computer.
Hillary Commissioned UN SpiesHillary Clinton wanted diplomats to
snoop out credit-card numbers, frequent-flier details, schedules, email addresses,cell phone numbers, and even DNA ofthe members of the UN SecurityCouncil, according to the documents.
That includes UN Secretary General BanKi-moon, about whom the secretary ofstate requested information on "manage-ment and decision-making style and hisinfluence on the secretariat." Therequests, which were made in July 2009and follow similar orders from Clinton'spredecessor, Condoleezza Rice, will nodoubt cause embarrassment and couldeven be illegal: A 1946 U.N. treaty bans"search, requisition. and any other formof interference" of United Nations prop-erty.
"Feckless" Berlusconi has"Shadowy" Ties to Putin
The cables are not very kind toItalian Prime Minister SilvioBerlusconi, who is deemed "feckless,vain, and ineffective as a modernEuropean leader" by Elizabeth Dibble,the US envoy to Rome. Another leakeddocument details Berlusconi's alreadyknown "frequent late nights and pen-chant for partying hard." The reportsalso question the intimate relationshipbetween Berlusconi and Russian PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin, who reported-ly use a "shadowy" bilingual go-between and lavish each other withexpensive gifts. Secretary Clintonasked her envoys in the two nations toreport on any business dealing betweenthe two, in addition to their chummybromance.
Saudi King Wanted aUS Military Strike on Iran
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah repeat-edly pushed the US to attack Iran,according to the US ambassador there."Cut off the head of the snake," the king
said in 2008, requesting a military strikeagainst Iran's burgeoning nuclear pro-gram. The Saudi government also calledfor "severe US and international sanc-tions on Iran." Israel also urged action,labeling 2010 a critical year. A June2009 message describes Israeli DefenseMinister Ehud Barak outlining a "win-dow between 6 and 18 months fromnow in which stopping Iran fromacquiring nuclear weapons might stillbe viable." After that, said Barak, "anymilitary solution would result in unac-ceptable collateral damage" Othercables show that the US believes Iranhas received advanced missiles fromNorth Korea capable of strikingMoscow and Europe.
Corrupt Afghan VP Caughtwith $52 million Cash
This must have weighed down his lug-gage: Officials working with the DrugEnforcement Agency in the United ArabEmirates last year discovered thatAfghanistan's visiting vice president,Ahmed Zia Massoud, had $52 million onhim, in cash. Calling the bonanza a "sig-nificant amount," the US Embassy lethim keep it "without revealing themoney's origin or destination." Massouddenies funneling any cash out ofAfghanistan.
US Offers Payouts in Exchange forGuantanamo Detainees
US authorities were so anxious toresettle Guantanamo prisoners abroadthat they were ready to strike any dealwith a foreign country willing to takethem. Officials offered Kiribati, a tinyisland nation in the Pacific with a popu-
lation 98,000 millions of dollars inincentives to shelter Chinese Muslimdetainees. They also bribed Slovenianofficials to take an inmate in exchangefor the chance to meet President Obama.Belgium, meanwhile, was told that tak-ing Guantanamo prisoners would be a"low-cost way to attain prominence inEurope."
South Korea Planning toReunite the Two Koreas
As tensions on the peninsula escalate,American and South Korean officialshave already discussed plans to unite thetwo Koreas should the North ultimatelycollapse. They've also considered induc-ing China to go along with reunification,with the South Korean ambassadortelling the State Department in February2010 economic incentives would "helpsalve" China should a united Korea endup in a "benign alliance" with the UnitedStates.
State Department Gives LowMarks to Germany's Merkel
The German magazine Der Spiegel,which was among the publicationsallowed to preview the leaks, immediate-ly zeroed in on the State Department'scool perception of Chancellor AngelaMerkel. The German leader "has nottaken bold steps yet to improve the sub-stantive content of the relationship,"wrote former US Ambassador WilliamTimken in 2006. Merkel was also called"risk averse and rarely creative" in a2008 message. German Foreign MinisterGuido Westerwelle, meanwhile, wasdeemed "short on substance."-Courtesy: The Daily Beast
The Most Shocking of the Leaks
FERTILISER000 tonnesUrea Offtake (Jan to Sep 10) 4,190Urea Offtake (Sep 10) 324Urea Price (Rs/50 kg) 851DAP Offtake (Jan to Sep 09) 680DAP Offtake (Sep 10) 226DAP Price (Rs/50 kg) 2,628
AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLERPAK SUZUKI MOTORUnitsProduction (July 10 to Oct 10) 26,842
Sales (July 10 to Oct 10) 25,279
Production (Octy 10) 7,311
Sales (Oct 10) 7,459
INDUS MOTOR COProduction (July 10 to Oct 10) 17,013
Sales (July 10 to Oct 10) 16,622
Production (Octy 10) 4,827
Sales (Oct 10) 4,830
HONDA ATLAS CARProduction (July 10 to Oct 10) 5,481
Sales (July 10 to Oct 10) 5,172
Production (Octy 10) 1,514
Sales (Oct 10) 1,340
DEWAN FAROOQ MOTORSProduction (July 10 to Oct 10) 186
Sales (July 10 to Oct 10) 70
Production (Octy 10) 0
Sales (Oct 10) 18
BANKING SECTORScheduled bank (Rs in mn)Deposit (Nov 6,10) 4,729,932
Advances (Nov 6,10) 3,011,868
Investments (Nov 6,10) 1,897,426
Spread (Sep 10) 7.57%
OIL MARKETING CO(000 tons)MS (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 744
MS (Oct 10) 198
Kerosene (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 53
Kerosene (Oct 10) 15
JP (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 452
JP (Oct 10) 122
HSD (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 2,182
HSD (Oct 10) 664
LDO (Jul 10 to Oct 10)) 22
LDO (Oct 10) 6
Fuel Oil (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 3,086
Fuel Oil (Oct 10) 854
Others (Jul 10 to Oct 10) 3
Others (Oct 10) 1
PRICES (Ex-Refinery) RsMS (1 Nov 10) 44.53
MS (1 Oct 10) 40.71
MS % Chg 9.38%
Kerosene (1 Nov 10) 51.25
Kerosene (1 Oct 10) 47.31
Kerosene % Chg 8.33%
JP-1 (1 Nov 10) 51.48
JP-1 (1 Oct 10) 47.54
JP-1 % Chg 8.29%
HSD (1 Nov 10) 54.24
HSD (1 Oct 10) 50.38
HSD % Chg 7.66%
LDO (1 Nov 10) 49.51
LDO (1 Oct 10) 46.13
LDO % Chg 7.33%
Fuel Oil (1 Nov 10) 42,046
Fuel Oil (1 Oct 10) 39,276
Sector Updates
Symbol Close Vol (mn)LOTPTA 12.36 29.61 JSCL 13.03 13.82 NML 59.61 11.67 NIB 2.87 8.39 NPL 15.49 7.82
Symbol Close ChangeUPFL 1,093.24 43.24 BATA 618.49 29.08 BHAT 256.20 12.20 SRVI 239.43 11.40 NRL 271.63 8.88
Symbol Close ChangeRMPL 1,825.36 -83.64FZTM 412.19 -16.81ULEVER 4,124.00 -7.12SFL 112.00 -5.69PHDL 37.05 -1.95
Plus 254Minus 131Unchanged 24
Top 5 Volume Leaders
Major Losers
Major Gainers
KSE-100 Index
LSE-25 Index
ISE-10 Index
Active Issues
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 5
Dhiyan
The current bullish trend in the market is in its lastlap. Here, the index is likely to see a major correctionat 11,500-11,600 points level as there are no triggersahead while institutions will also go for profits due toyear-end. Investors are therefore advised to rake in asmuch profits as they can. Positive activities areexpected to continue today.
Market ignored the interest rate hike as technicalindicators showed bullish trend where we are target-ing the market towards 11,530 points. However, westill recommend traders to buy and order stop loss ifmarket sinks below 11,118 points. They can invest inoil, banking, and fertiliser sectors.
The benchmark KSE 100-Index gained 71 points --0.64per cent to close at 11,234points, the highest closingsince July 2008.
KSE 30-Index jumped by92 points to close at 10,838level and KSE All ShareIndex rose by 52 points toclose at 7,818 points.
"The hike in key policy ratewas in line with expectationsand that’s why investorsrushed to repurchase funda-mentally strong shares", saidSamar Iqbal, equity dealer atTopline Securities. Investors'focus was on the cash-richcompanies due to increase indiscount rate, he added.
State Bank of Pakistan(SBP) increased the key ratesby 50bps to 14 percent on Monday in order torein in the persistentlyincreasing inflation due togovernment borrowing from
the central bank. According to experts, mar-
ket had already discountedthis hike in the last few ses-sions therefore investors tookpositions in oil stocks fol-lowing rising internationaloil while buying was alsoseen in banking, cement andfertiliser stocks as the uncer-tainty over monetary policywas finally over. Thereforedue to continued buyingindex remained in the bullishterritory almost throughoutthe day touching the highestand the lowest levels of
11,284 points (+ve 121) and11,158 points (-ve 4) respec-tively. However index endedwith some clipped gains dueto profit taking at higher lev-els.
Foreigners continued withtheir buying as according toNCCPL a net-buying of$1.14 million was recordedon Tuesday as well.
Local companies did a net-buying of $4.07 million whilebanks and NBFCs a net-sell-ing of $3.53 million and$1.04 million respectively.
Investor participation too
was impressive as 165.1 mil-lion shares traded during theday --74.9 million more ascompared to a turnover of90.2 million shares a day ear-lier.
Lotte Pakistan was the vol-ume leader with 29.61 mil-lion shares followed byJehangir Siddiqui & Co with13.82 million shares andNishat Mills with 11.67 mil-lion shares.
Out of total 409 activeissues 254 advanced and 131declined while 24 issuesremained unchanged.
KSE near 29-mth high in post-rate-hike rally
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI:Shares in Shanghai fell onTuesday, dragging down stocksin Hong Kong, as mainlandbanks and brokerages rushed toraise cash after a slew of tight-ening measures this month leftthem short of funds.
Reflecting the dash for cash,China's benchmark short-termmoney market rate jumpedearly on Tuesday to its highestin more than two years.
The Shanghai CompositeIndex ended down 1.6 per centat 2,820.2 points, a level notseen since early October. Theindex has fallen 5.3 per centthis month after rising 12 percent in October.
Hong Kong's benchmarkHang Seng Index fell 0.7 percent at 23,0007.99. It lost 0.4per cent in November, its firstmonthly loss in three months.
Analysts said the fundingsqueeze in mainland China wasprompting investors to sellheavily weighted financials andcommodity issues in Shanghai
to raise cash.Chinese markets have already
been on edge for weeks, fearingthe central bank would intro-duce further tightening meas-ures to curb inflationary pres-sures, such as additional hikesin bank reserve requirementsand more interest rate increases.
Financials were among thebiggest losers, with Industrialand Commercial Bank of China ,the world's most valuable lender,down 2.1 per cent and Merchantsbank 1.7 per cent lower.
Top broker Citic Securitiesfell 2.7 per cent,
Volume jumped from lacklus-tre levels seen this month, withfierce selling of small cap drugshares after the governmentannounced measures to cut theprices of 17 types of medicines.
Tonghua DongbaoPharmaceutical , for example,dropped 7.4 per cent.
Turnover of Shanghai Ashares rose to 172 billion yuan($25.86 billion) from 133 bil-lion yuan on Monday.
OIL AND METALS PLAYSLEAD HK LOWER
Hong Kong was not hit ashard as those in Shanghai,although oil and metals coun-ters were sharply lower, under-performing the broader market.
After a rally early this month,investors have been sheddingholdings of Hong Kong shares,fretting about China's plans to curbinflation, debt problems in Europeand, more recently, political ten-sions on the Korean peninsula.
Bucking the trend, Li & FungLtd , which supplies goods toUS retailers such as Wal-MartStores Inc , rose 1.4 per centafter touching a fresh recordhigh in the morning session.
The stock has jumped 11 percent in the last four sessions,including Tuesday's gains, asinvestors bet that US consumerspending was picking up, asevidenced by briskThanksgiving holiday sales.
Volume of trade rose toHK$101 billion ($13 billion), thehighest in two weeks.-Reuters
Shanghai, HK duckon China policy fears
TOKYO: The Nikkei averageslid almost 2 per cent onTuesday, as a tumble inChinese shares on liquidityworries pushed Japan investorsto book profits on a sharp rallyfor Tokyo stocks this month.
Shanghai stocks fell as a cashshortfall in the domesticmoney market, after a slew ofofficial tightening steps, led toa liquidity squeeze in the stockmarket and prompted retailinvestors, already jumpy aboutmore tightening, to sell shares.
"Investors are worrying thatChina could raise interest ratesafter announcing its purchasingmanagers' index tomorrow,"said Hideyuki Ishiguro, astrategist for OkasanSecurities.
After posting a surprisinglystrong PMI in October, Chinatwice increased banks' requiredreserves, so a robust readingfor November might make theauthorities more confidentabout taking further tighteningsteps, analysts said.
The Nikkei dropped 1.9 percent or 188.95 points to9,937.04, after hitting a five-month closing high of10,125.99 on Monday.Immediate support lies at itsclosely watched 200-day mov-ing average, now at 9,911.41.
The broader Topix indexshed 1.6 per cent to 860.94.
Japan's largest constructionmachinery maker, KomatsuLtd shed 2.4 per cent andHitachi ConstructionMachinery fell 3.1 per cent.
Worries that Europe's creditcrisis will spread to Portugaland Spain despite a bailout of
Ireland also weighed. But mar-ket players said Tokyo stockswere likely to retain thismonth's positive tone, helpedby recent weakness in the yen,which hit a two-month lowagainst the dollar on Monday.
The Nikkei rallied 8 per centthis month, its best monthlyperformance since March, withforeigners shifting funds backto lagging Tokyo equities afterUS monetary easing liftedexpectations of more liquidityin financial markets.
"Short-covering by hedgefunds appears to be continuing,though it has lost momentum,"said Kenichi Hirano, operatingofficer at Tachibana Securities.
"Still, moves like this byoverseas hedge funds will like-ly continue into the new yearas they try to bring Japanesestocks back to neutral in theirportfolio after having overlyshorted them up to now."
Strong U.S employment fig-ures and robust and strongsales during the Christmasshopping season would likelyspur more buying of Japaneseequities, market players said.
Shares of Cresco surged 7.7per cent to 448 yen after themaker of business-use softwareannounced it will buy back upto 3.8 per cent of its sharesbetween Nov. 30 and May 31.
Trade picked up slightly onthe Tokyo exchange's firstsection, with 2.18 billionshares changing hands, itshighest volume in more than aweek.
Declining stocks outnum-bered advancing ones by about6 to 1.-Reuters
Nikkei plunges;China fall weighs
BANGALORE: Indian sharesrecouped early losses andclimbed 0.6 per cent onTuesday, supported by better-than-expected economicgrowth and firm European mar-kets.
Traders said improvedgrowth prospects helped easesome of the gloom caused by aseries of scandals that have hitsome sectors and drove themarket down.
The main index had shed 2.6per cent in November, itsbiggest monthly loss sinceMay.
The economy grew 8.9 percent in the September quarter,faster than 8.3 per cent forecastin a Reuters poll, boosted byrobust farm output and manu-facturing.
Growth in the Decemberquarter could be better, thechief economic adviser to thefinance ministry said.
"We do not see a runawayrally from here because theoverhang is still there, the badtaste of the scams remains."
The 30-share BSE indexerased early losses of nearly 1per cent and closed up 116.15points, at 19,521.25 with 19 ofits components rising.
The benchmark had comewithin 100 points of a record
high on Nov. 5, before sliding,with the market roiled by scan-dals -- including issue of tele-com licenses at low prices anda bribes-for-loans scam thatsaw eight financial industryexecutives arrested last week.
India may have beendeprived of up to $39 billion byselling cellular licences toocheaply, and late on Mondaythe new telecoms ministervowed action against holders of85 licences that may not havemet eligibility criteria and oth-ers that have failed to meet roll-out requirements.
Shares in property firmUnitech, which has a cellularjoint venture with Norway'sTelenor, and Videocon, whichwas among the telecom licenceholders named in a governmentaudit, fell more than 6 per centin early trade.
The stocks later recoveredand Unitech closed up 4 percent, while Videocon gainednearly 2 per cent.
A Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) source withdirect knowledge of the mattersaid its probe in the bribes-for-loans case, in which the arrest-ed include executives frompublic-sector lenders, would bewidened further to look intoother state banks.-Reuters
Indian shares riseon economic growth
FTSE downon fallingbanks, oils
LONDON: Britain's leadingshare index retreated onTuesday with a rally by minersmore than offset by falls in oilsand financials as investors fret-ted over euro zone debt prob-lems during a choppy session.
The FTSE 100 closed down22.68 points, or 0.4 per cent, at5,528.27, a level not seen sincethe middle of September.
The blue chip index recordedits worst monthly performancesince June, shedding 2.6 percent after a poor second half ina major reversal from 29-month highs at the start ofNovember.
Banks, seen as among themost vulnerable to continuedEuropean debt uncertainty,were the biggest blue-chip fall-ers on Tuesday.
Barclays came under themost pressure due to its expo-sure to the Iberian peninsula,losing 2.6 per cent after earliertouching a 12-month low.
Other financials also sufferedas investors shunned stocksperceived to be riskier, withinsurer Standard Life down 3.7per cent and fund managerSchroders off 2.1 per cent.
Integrated oils were weakerafter a roller-coaster session asthe crude price fell with afirmer dollar, with BP andRoyal Dutch Shell both losing0.5 per cent.
But Cairn Energy bouncedback from sharp falls onMonday, up 2.4 per cent, asanalysts highlighted the recentwin of three new explorationlicences for offshoreGreenland.-Reuters
US stocks mid-day
Housing data,Europe woesdent Wall St
NEW YORK: Wall Streetdeclined on Tuesday as thelatest data on home prices inthe United States underlinedthe obstacles on the econo-my's road to recovery andadded to lingering worriesabout the euro-zone debt cri-sis.
Reflecting investors' mount-ing uncertainty, the CBOEVolatility Index VIX jumped5.8 per cent to 22.78.
Stocks opened lower andremained under pressure asthe euro sank to a 10-weeklow against the US dollar,after a weekend rescue pack-age for Ireland did little tostem fiscal concerns. The euroand stocks have been tradingin sync with each other inrecent weeks as European debtproblems resurfaced, drivinginvestors away from riskyassets.
In the United States, the lat-est S&P/Case-Shiller homeprices data disappointedinvestors, as monthly pricesfell more than expected inSeptember, and prices from ayear earlier rose more slowlythan forecast.
The Dow Jones US homeconstruction index edged up0.2 per cent after closingMonday at its lowest sinceJuly 2009.
The Dow Jones industrialaverage fell 39.17 points, or0.35 per cent, to 11,013.32.The Standard & Poor's 500Index shed 5.94 points, or0.50 per cent, to 1,181.82. TheNasdaq Composite Indexslipped 24.87 points, or 0.99per cent, to 2,500.34.
BGoogle Inc weighed on thetech-heavy Nasdaq index fol-lowing media reports that thecompany is close to a deal tobuy local advertising websiteGroupon Inc in what could bethe Internet giant's biggestacquisition to date.
Google shares fell 3.2 percent to $563.54.
Global investors increasedtheir exposure to equities inNovember despite weaknesseson many bourses, while USand British fund managersstepped away from crisis-hiteuro-zone bonds, a Reutersasset allocation poll found.-Reuters
Manila down, weakest market in November
South East Asian stocks
European stocks end flat, debt woes weigh
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Company Period Div/Bon/Right PAT (Rs in mn) EPS(Rs)
Mirpurkhas Sugar Yearly 15%D 20%B 84.30 11.99
Chenab Limited 1st Qtr - -614.16 -5.34
Wednesday, December 1, 20106
Volume 165,170,389
Value 6,090,586,120
Trades 73,812
Advanced 254
Declined 131
Unchanged 24
Total 409
Current 7,818.10
High 7,850.10
Low 7,763.76
Change h52.28
Current 11,234.76
High 11,284.93
Low 11,158.69
Change h71.33
Current 10,838.15
High 10,879.97
Low 10,745.17
Change h92.98
Market KSE 100 Index All Share Index KSE 30 Index
Current 17,999.33
High 18,075.17
Low 17,826.34
Change h172.99
KMI 30 IndexSymbolsAlert ! Unusual Movements
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Jun 30, 2009
Kohinoor Industries Limited
KOIL closed up 0.02 at 1.62. Volume was 2,616 per cent above aver-
age (trending) and Bollinger Bands were 47 per cent narrower than nor-
mal. The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs13.075 million which
translates into a Loss Per Share of Rs0.43 for the 1st quarter of current
fiscal year (1QFY11).
KOIL is currently 9.7 per cent below its 200-day moving average and is
displaying an upward trend. Volatility is low as compared to the aver-
age volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume indicators reflect
very strong flows of volume into KOIL (bullish). Trend forecasting oscil-
lators are currently bullish on KOIL.
RSI (14-day) 56.02 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 933.39
MA (10-day) 1.55 Total Equity (Rs in mn) (252.05)
MA (100-day) 1.57 Revenue (Rs in mn) 0.00
MA (200-day) 1.79 Interest Expense 14.92
1st Support 1.46 Loss after Taxation (300.50)
2nd Support 1.36 EPS 09 (Rs) (9.917)
1st Resistance 1.80 Book value / share (Rs) (8.32)
2nd Resistance 2.04 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 1.70 PBV (x) (0.19)
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Jun 30, 2009
HADC closed up 0.13 at 0.67. Volume was 448 per cent above average
(trending) and Bollinger Bands were 5 per cent narrower than normal.
The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs0.073 million which trans-
lates into a Loss Per Share of Rs0.01 for the 1st quarter of current fis-
cal year (1QFY11).
HADC is currently 29.9 per cent below its 200-day moving average and
is displaying a downward trend. Volatility is high as compared to the
average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume indicators
reflect very strong flows of volume into HADC (bullish). Trend forecast-
ing oscillators are currently bearish on HADC.
RSI (14-day) 48.88 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 26.22
MA (10-day) 0.63 Total Equity (Rs in mn) 18.45
MA (100-day) 0.94 Revenue (Rs in mn) 0.00
MA (200-day) 0.96 Interest Expense 0.00
1st Support 0.51 Loss after Taxation (0.05)
2nd Support 0.41 EPS 09 (Rs) (0.008)
1st Resistance 0.75 Book value / share (Rs) 2.88
2nd Resistance 0.89 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 0.65 PBV (x) 0.23
Hayderi Construction Company Ltd
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Dec 31, 2009
NIB closed up 0.02 at 2.87. Volume was 656 per cent above average
(trending) and Bollinger Bands were 26 per cent narrower than normal.
The company's loss after taxation stood at Rs3.559 billion which trans-
lates into a Loss Per Share of Rs0.88 for the nine months of current cal-
endar year (9MCY10).
NIB is currently 16.9 per cent below its 200-day moving average and is
displaying a downward trend. Volatility is extremely high when com-
pared to the average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume
indicators reflect moderate flows of volume into NIB (mildly bullish).
Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bearish on NIB.
RSI (14-day) 53.70 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 208,118.96
MA (10-day) 2.85 Total Equity (Rs in mn) 41,643.27
MA (100-day) 2.87 Revenue (Rs in mn) 18,272.36
MA (200-day) 3.45 Interest Expense 12,872.36
1st Support 2.89 Profit after Taxation 691.05
2nd Support 2.84 EPS 09 (Rs) 0.171
1st Resistance 2.95 Book value / share (Rs) 10.30
2nd Resistance 2.96 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 2.90 PBV (x) 0.28
NIB Bank Limited
Technical AnalysisFundamental Highlights
As on Jun 30, 2009
DSIL closed up 0.05 at 1.91. Volume was 21 per cent above average
and Bollinger Bands were 42 per cent narrower than normal. The com-
pany's loss after taxation stood at Rs31.558 million which translates into
a Loss Per Share of Rs0.53 for the 1st quarter of current fiscal year
(1QFY11).
DSIL is currently 19.5 per cent below its 200-day moving average and
is displaying an upward trend. Volatility is relatively normal as compared
to the average volatility over the last 10 trading sessions. Volume indi-
cators reflect volume flowing into and out of DSIL at a relatively equal
pace. Trend forecasting oscillators are currently bullish on DSIL.
RSI (14-day) 55.35 Total Assets (Rs in mn) 838.18
MA (10-day) 1.88 Total Equity (Rs in mn) (298.62)
MA (100-day) 1.89 Revenue (Rs in mn) 653.74
MA (200-day) 2.37 Interest Expense 130.20
1st Support 1.85 Loss after Taxation (984.14)
2nd Support 1.80 EPS 09 (Rs) (16.402)
1st Resistance 2.00 Book value / share (Rs) (4.98)
2nd Resistance 2.10 PE 10 E (x) -
Pivot 1.95 PBV (x) (0.38)
D. S. Industries Limited
OIL AND GAS
Performance of SR Oil and Gas Index
Open High Low Close Change % Change
1,457.50 1,475.62 1,452.66 1,463.52 6.02 0.41
Turnover Total cos Defaulter cos Listed cap Market cap 5-Day High
United Bank Ltd 67.54 58.65 57.60 60.35 61.05 59.30
WorldCall Tele 52.03 2.60 2.55 2.70 2.75 2.65
Company RSI 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Pivot
(14-day) Support Resistance
TECHNICAL LEVELS
TRG Pakistan Ltd 3-Dec 7:00
ICC Textiles Ltd 4-Dec 11:00
JS Investment Ltd 6-Dec 10:30
BOARD MEETINGS
Company Date Time
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 8
ISLAMABAD: Degrees of 370legislators has not been verifiedso far owing to absence of sup-porting documents, includingmatric and intermediate certifi-cates.
According to sources, theHigher Education Commission(HEC) has sent letters to theElection Commission ofPakistan (ECP) on many occa-sions to arrange credentials ofthe legislators.
According to HEC's focal per-son Rahim Bux Channa they arein contact with ElectionCommission to get certificatesand supporting documents fromthe members.
The Election Commissionplans to take more steps to secure
degrees from the legislators."We are continuously raising
the issue of submission ofrequired documents and degreesby all lawmakers. The ECP is alsotrying its best to make the legisla-tors comply with the existingrules and procedures," he said.
A three-member committeeformed by the ElectionCommission is holding hearingsto ascertain cases of legislatorsand identify members withforged degrees.
The Election Commission ispursuing cases of degrees on thedirectives of the Supreme Courtand has also started the process ofsending the cases of parliamen-tarians with fake degrees to lowercourts for criminal action.-APP
370 MPs degreesawait verification
LAHORE: Vice ChancellorsCommittee (VCC), comprising77 heads of public sector high-er educational institutionsacross the country, hasdemanded the federal govern-ment to continue its control onthe higher education sector.
This demand was raised dur-ing a joint press briefing afterthe meeting of vice chancellorshere at Punjab University OldCampus.
PU VC Prof Dr MujahidKamran, UET Peshawar VCDr Imtiaz Gilani, NationalTextile University Rector Dr
Niaz Ahmed, PU AdditionalController Examination ZaheerAhmed and other heads of uni-versities also were present.
The VCs were of the viewthat under federal control, thehigher education sector wouldbe addressed more effectivelyand the funds would be provid-ed to small and large provincesequally.
"A well functioning body isneeded to develop, guide, andsteer higher education whilethe Higher EducationCommission must continue itscurrent role and its autonomy
must be protected" the VCCmeet said.
They also asked the govern-ment to allocate a minimum of4 per cent of GDP for educa-tion in the next budget.
The VCs expressed dissatis-faction over the cut in educa-tion budget, adding that thegovernment should put thissector on the top priority andexempt it from financial cutsunder any circumstances.
To a question, Dr ImtiazGilani said that the govern-ment was making efforts to getthe abducted VC of Islamia
College University PeshawarDr Ajmal Khan released.
To another question, PU VCDr Mujahid Kamran said thatthe inquiry against a PU seniorprofessor Dr Iftikhar Balochwas underway for allegedlyharassing a female employeeof university. He said theinquiry committee will presentits report on November 30.
The committee appreciatedthe release of funds by govern-ment for the immediaterequirements of universitiesincluding development grantsand salaries.-APP
VCs seek fed-led higher education
ISLAMABAD: GovernorPunjab Salman Taseer hascalled on the educated womento come forward and play theirconstructive role in the develop-ment and prosperity of thecountry.
Addressing the 10th convoca-tion of Fatima Jinnah WomenUniversity here on Tuesday, hesaid the educated women haveto play an important and activerole for the betterment of thesociety.
He said "due to their splendidsuccess the future of the countryis in safe hands."
The Governor said that thecountry was facing difficultiesfor the last few years in theshape of natural disasters and
terrorism, but the nation dealtwith these challenges bravely.
He said "earlier we have set-tled 3.5 million people withinthree months which were dis-placed due to terrorism in Swatand Malakand."
He said the students of 17 uni-versities were taking part in therehabilitation and relief activi-ties of flood affected people.
On the occasion, FederalMinister for Education AssefAhmed Ali said, "We are livingin a world of global competitionand the knowledge can play animportant role to put the countryon the road to progress andprosperity."
He said Fatima Jinnah WomenUniversity has progressed a lot
and the academic programmes ofthe university were in line withour national goals enabling theyoung women to discover theirstrength, identity, and their talents.
Earlier in her welcomeaddress the Vice Chancellor,professor Dr Saeeda AsadullahKhan congratulated the studentsand their parents wishing them aprosperous future.
She also admired the studentshonoured with gold and silvermedals for their dedication andoutstanding achievements intheir academic career.
Later the Governor gave awaygold and silver medals to thestudents who got distinctions indifferent disciplines of theirstudies.-NNI
For uplift, country needs educated women: Taseer
TFD Report
KARACHI: The Institute ofBusiness Administration (IBA)Karachi convocation was heldhere on Tuesday at the IBAMain Campus, University Road,Karachi.
The convocation was celebrat-ed in high-spirits with caps fly-ing as 484 delighted studentswere awarded their degrees inthe presence of IBA dean anddirector, faculty members,patrons and parents.
Justice Muneeb Akhtar, theSindh High Court Judge andChairman IBA board of gover-nors, graced the occasion withhis presence as the chief guest.Numerous eminent personalitiesfrom the academia, corporateand public sectors also attendedIBA's convocation this year.
Justice Muneeb Akhtar con-gratulated the graduating stu-dents on their remarkableachievement. "Proud parentsand class of 2010,Congratulations you did it!"exclaimed the chief guest jubi-lantly. He praised director IBA,Dr Ishrat Husain, for theprogress IBA has made underhis exceptional leadership.
Around 484 students were
awarded degrees including 187BBA graduates, 53 MBA Directgraduates, 50 MBA ThroughBBA graduates, 41 MBA TaxManagement graduates, 26BBA-MIS graduates, 17 BSgraduates, 32 MBA-MIS gradu-ates, 12 MBA-MIS Eveninggraduates and 66 MBA Eveninggraduates. Apart from the con-ferment of degrees the IBAKarachi also awarded variousmedals to students with out-standing academic records.
Kanza Shahnawaz receivedthe "Overall Best Student-Graduate Programme" goldmedal and Maimoona Tariqreceived the "Overall BestStudent- UndergraduateProgramme" gold medal. The"MBA Tax ManagementProgramme" gold medal wasawarded to M Ali Asad Khan,"Overall Marketing" gold medalwas awarded to Madeeha SaeedSheikh and the "OverallFinance" gold medal wasawarded to Mahrukh Shakil.The pair of Taimoor Zubair andSohaib Masood won the goldmedal for the "Best BS/MISProject" and the CommunityWelfare Society won the goldmedal for the "Best StudentSociety of the Year".
IBA Convocation2010 fetes spirit
of excellence
LARKANA: The Board ofIntermediate and SecondaryEducation (BISE), Larkanahere on Monday eveningannounced the results ofHigher SecondaryCertificate (HSC) Part-I(Class-XI) AnnualE x a m i n a t i o n s - 2 0 1 0 ,Humanities and CommerceGroups.
According to the statisticaldata issued by the ControllerBISE Larkana MuhammadAlam Thaheem, 3617 candi-dates (both boys and girls)were registered for the exams,however, 3551 candidates,including 2818 boys and 733girls, form Humanities group,had appeared in the annualexaminations-2010.
The BISE Larkana coversLarkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur,
Kandhkot-Kashmore andJacobabad districts and twotalukas of Dadu District i.e.Taluka Khairpur NathanShah and Taluka Maher.
Of the 3551 candidates2856 were declared passedin six papers, 375 in fivepapers, 53 in four papers, 19in three papers, 16 in twopapers, 29 in one paper, and29 students were declaredfailed in all papers, whilethe result of 166 candidates229 has been withheld onvarious grounds.
The BISE Larkana's resultgazette further revealed thatin Commerce Group, 569candidates (both boys andgirls) were registered fromsix districts i.e Larkana,K a m b e r - S h a h d a d k o t ,Shikarpur, Jacobabad,Kandhkot-Kashmore and
two talukas includedKhairpur Nathan Shah andMehar of Dadu district, outof which 566 candidatesappeared in the annualexaminations-2010.
Of them 371 were declaredpassed in all the sevenpapers, 145 in six papers, 35in five papers, 04 in fourpapers, 02 in three papers,only one candidate could notqualify in any of the papersand only one candidate passin one paper, while the resultof 8 candidates has beenwithheld on various grounds.
The Controller ofExaminations of BISELarkana has asked the candi-dates not to contact BISELarkana for marks sheets, asthe same would be deliveredto their respective institu-tion.-APP
BISE Larkana outsHSC-Part-I results
ISLAMABAD: DirectorGeneral of South AsianStrategic Stability Institute(SASSI) Maria Sultan hastermed better teaching standardsas imperative for attainingnational progress.
Addressing the closing cere-mony of Roots NationalOlympiad-2010 as the chiefguest, DG SASSI praised theefforts of the management &faculty of Roots School System(RSS) and setting precedence inEducation Sector by deliveringWorld Class Results.
She said "young people arethe spirit of our nation. Theyhave vision and strength to facechallenges, provide, solutions,and give hopes."
"New education policy has beenannounced and we are introducingreforms to bring in qualitativechange so as to raise the standardof education at par with interna-
tional standards", she added.We have embarked on a jour-
ney and to be able to enhanceour quality of education we areimparting rigorous training tothe teachers so as to equip themwith the modern skills andknowledge to be able to educateour children in the best possibleenvironment, she added.
Addressing the audienceFaisal Mushtaq Director RSSsaid, "We are committed toimprove the educational experi-ence of our students and withthis in mind we came up withthe idea of holding RootsOlympiad to stimulate interac-tive learning among the youth."
At the end of the ceremony,awards were distributed amongthe winners and formally clos-ing of Olympiad was announcedwith the pledge to come togeth-er with the same enthusiasm andspirit next year.-APP
Development tiedto better didactics
CM Punjabpraised as
edu promoterLAHORE: ParliamentarySecretary Health Punjab DrSaeed Elahi has lauded theservices of the chief ministerPunjab for the promotion ofmedical education.
In a statement issued here, hesaid setting up of four newmedical colleges in Punjab andincreasing of four hundredseats in existing medical col-leges were historic achieve-ments of the chief ministerPunjab which had opened newavenues for poor students tobecome a doctor.
He said that the provision offree medical treatment to peo-ple of Punjab was a milestonein the history of Punjab.-APP
Varsitiesreopenin KP
ISLAMABAD: The studentsand teachers have appreciatedopening of universities inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)which were closed as a protestagainst kidnapping of IslamiaCollege University ViceChancellor, Professor AjmalKhan.
The closure of educationinstitutions across theprovince has badly affectedcurriculum and extra-curricu-lum activities, students of dif-ferent universities said onTuesday.
Peshawar University studentSada Muhammad said openingof the universities is a verypositive step for the studentsas our university remainedclose in current session forseveral months because of thefloods and law and order.
A student of the JournalismDepartment of PeshawarUniversity said she was reallyhappy over the beginning ofclasses in the province. Amother of a university studentsaid, "Our children's educationhas suffered due to the closureof universities. I think closureof the institutions is harmfulfor the students."
Peshawar UniversityTeachers said, "We are happyover the opening of universi-ties and observing symbolicstrike for the recovery ofAjmal Khan."
Provincial Minister forInformation, Mian IftikharHussain said closure of uni-versities not only encouragedmilitants, but also wasted stu-dents' time.
The Minister said he hadissued instructions to theuniversities VCs to takesteps to compensate stu-dents' time.-APP
‘Tech matric’launches in6 districtsof Punjab
LAHORE: Provincial Ministerfor Labour and HumanResources, Muhammad AshrafKhan Sohna said Punjab govern-ment has started ' technical'matric programme in the work-ers welfare schools of six dis-tricts as a pilot project led byPunjab workers welfare board.
Talking to a delegation oflabourers here, the minister saidthat initially, classes has beenstarted at workers welfareschools for boys in Gujranwala,Faisalabad, Shahdara andSialkot and workers welfareschool for girls in Multan.
According to a handout issuedon Tuesday, the minister said thestudents were being providedbooks, transport, and uniformfree of cost under this pro-gramme and added that a projectfor setting up more worker wel-fare schools was in the pipeline.
Sohna said that evening class-es have also started in welfareschools in six districts, addingthat a large number of childrenwere getting education underthis arrangement.-APP
AIOU’s allpost-grad
exams from 6thISLAMABAD: Examinationsof all Postgraduate Programmesof the Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity for the SemesterSpring, 2010 have been sched-uled from 6th December, 2010.
This was announced byHafeez-Ullah, Controller ofExams, AIOU. Roll number slipshave been dispatched to all theeligible/enrolled students at theirgiven addresses by post. Allthose students who will notreceive their roll number slips upto 4th December, 2010 areadvised to contact the nearestRegional Office of theUniversity or SuperintendentPostgraduate Result Section,Examinations Department forissuance of Duplicate roll num-ber slip. For duplicate roll num-ber slips students are required tobring two passport size photo-graphs duly attested by thegazetted officer. Roll number slipalong with date sheet has alsobeen placed on AIOU website forthe convenience of students.
All students are also advised intheir own interest to read theinstructions mentioned on rollnumber slip carefully beforeentering into the examinationcenter.-Online
ROME: Students hold a banner reading 'You are afraid of culture. Tear to pieces this government ' as they walk in center Rome
trying to reach the Italian Chamber of Deputies to protest against the vote on an education reform on November 30, 2010. Riot
police blocked all access to the center of Rome to prevent demonstrators to reach Montecitorio, the lower house of the Italian par-
liament. Students and academics are outraged at cuts of around nine billion euros (12 billion dollars) and 130,000 jobs in the educa-
tion system that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government has engaged to carry out by 2013.-Reuters
HYDERABAD: MNA Salahuddin talking to a seminar on Citizens Speak Policy Consultation on
Post-Flood Education in Sindh and Citizens Concerns here at the Press Club.-APP
LONDON: Copper rose onTuesday, supported by persist-ent concerns about supplytightness and as the eurotrimmed losses after US datalifted risk sentiment.
Benchmark copper for three-month delivery on the LondonMetal Exchange closed at$8,360 a tonne from $8,220 atthe close on Monday. Themetal, used in power and con-struction, had peaked earlier inthe day at $8,408, its highest ina week.
"The euro trimming losses isclearly an issue. For copper,everyone is focusing on thesupply issue for next year andexpected deficit," SocieteGenerale analyst David Wilsonsaid.
"Out of all the metals, funda-mentally copper still looks bestplaced to see more upside."
Chile's Collahuasi, theworld's No. 3 copper mine,said on Tuesday its operationswere normalizing as it resumedtalks with union leaders to enda strike that appears headedinto a fourth week.
Worries about nearby copper
supplies have pushed the pre-mium or backwardation forcash material over the three-month contract to around $50 atonne -- its widest backwarda-
tion since October 2008.A looming deficit in the cop-
per market is expected to pushcopper prices next year abovethe record high of $8,966 hitearlier this month.
Bolstering this outlook, LMEcopper stocks have fallensteadily since February, lastdown 800 tonnes to 355,750
tonnes -- their lowest sinceOctober 2009. Investors alsokept close tabs on a dominantposition controlling 50-80 percent of cash warrants for bothcopper and nickel, subject toLME lending guidance.
Aluminium closed at $2,275versus $2,270. LME stocks forthe metal, used in transport andpackaging, jumped 6,800tonnes to 4.28 million tonnes.
Aluminium supply tightnessmay also be within sight, as alarge portion of LME alumini-um stocks are tied up infinance deals.
Steel-making ingredient nick-el closed at $23,050 a tonnefrom $22,400, while batterymaterial lead was at $2,230 atonne from $2,188. Zinc closedat $2,112 a tonne from $2,078and tin, used in electrical solder,ended at $24,495 from $23,900.-Reuters
Copper lifts on tightsupplies, euro helps
9Wednesday, December 1, 2010
POLYPROPYLENE(PP) LINEAR LOW (LL)
Cash & Settlement 1310 1250
December (3rd Wednesday) 1320 1260
January (3rd Wednesday) 1320 1260
LONDON METAL EXCHANGE (PLASTIC)
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for November 29 2010
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for November 29 2010
ALUMINIUM ALUMINIUM COPPER LEAD NICKEL TIN ZINC NASAAC
LONDON: Oil fell towards$85 on Tuesday as the dollarhit a 10-week high on concernsabout Europe's debt crisis andon worries over demand inChina as it looks to brake ener-gy demand growth and coolinflation.
Traders also looked for moreevidence that US oil invento-ries would drain with a surge indemand for heat-ing as wintryweather sweptacross Europe andthe United States.
Oil pricesclimbed 2.4 percent on Monday,led by futures forheating oil and gas oil, as coldweather raised expectations ofhigher fuel consumption onboth sides of the Atlantic.
US crude for January slipped50 cents to $85.23 a barrel by1458 GMT after rising $1.97on Monday, when it brieflytouched $85.90, the highestprice since Nov. 12. Pricesreached a 25-month high of$88.63 on Nov. 11.
ICE Brent lost 30 cents to$87.04 after rising more than 2per cent on Monday.
The dollar index against a
basket of currencies reached itshighest since mid-Septemberas the euro tumbled on contin-uing fears that Ireland's bailoutmight not help keep Europe'sdebt woes contained.
In euro terms, Brent reachedits highest level for almostseven months on Tuesday,climbing above 67 euros perbarrel.
Robert Montefusco atSucden financial said theweakness of the euro was put-ting increased pressure on oil.
"That puts pressure on thefundamentals," Montefuscosaid. "Fear of contagion withnot only Portugal and Spain,but now with France andBelgium in focus as well."
"The longer the euro staysbelow 1.30 the harder it will befor oil to recover," he added.
An industry report on inven-tories from the AmericanPetroleum Institutes (API) is
due on Tuesday at 2130 GMT,followed by government statis-tics from the EnergyInformation Administration onWednesday.
US crude oil inventoriesprobably fell by 400,000 bar-rels last week as importsdipped, a Reuters poll of ana-lysts suggested, but analystswere divided with an equal
number ofthem predict-ing a declineand anincrease.
Cold tem-peratures inthe NortheastUnited States
and northwestern Europe pro-vided a boost to London gas oiland US heating oil distillatefutures on Monday as the USDecember refined productscontracts neared their Tuesdayexpiration.
Factories in Japan and SouthKorea, Asia's second- andfourth-largest oil users, cutoutput in October, adding toevidence of a slowdown andboding ill for the rest of theworld that has relied on theregion to keep the global econ-omy humming. -Reuters
Crude oil falls towards$85 as dollar rises
Europeanvegetableoil prices
ROTTERDAM: The follow-ing were the Tuesday'sRotterdam vegetable oil price'sat 22:00 PST.
SOYOIL: EU degummedeuro tonne fob exmill Jan11938.00, Feb11/Apr11943.00+3.00, May11/Jul11945.00+3.00, Aug11/Oct11948.00.
Note: Traded Volume reflects the trades from 06:00 pm of previous day to 06:00 pm of current day
Tokyo rubber
ends higherBANGKOK: Tokyo rubberfutures rose to their highest innearly a week on Tuesday, butgains were limited by fears thatChina would take further actionto cool commodity prices, deal-ers said.
The benchmark rubber con-tract on the Tokyo CommodityExchange for May deliveryrose 2.9 yen to settle at 360.2yen ($4.28) per kg, the highestsince Nov. 25. "Rubber rosehigher in line with oil prices.However, oil prices becameweaker in the afternoon, as wellas other commodities, on con-cerns over China's attempt tocool down the heated futuresmarket," one dealers said.
The most active Shanghairubber contract for May deliv-ery rose 230 yuan to finish at30,880 yuan per tonne onTuesday. The Shanghai FuturesExchange said on Nov. 25 itwould raise margin require-ments and widen daily pricemove limits on its contracts.
Traders said such a movecould trigger liquidation ofspeculative positions. Dealerssaid TOCOM rubber could risefurther on Wednesday afterprices finished above the psy-chological level of 360 yen perkg. -Reuters
KHARTOUM - SUDAN: A store owner weights onions for a customer in a small village in the
northern part of Unity State in Southern Sudan. -Agencies
LONDON: Gold rallied over 1per cent to a 2-1/2 week peakon Tuesday and euro-pricedbullion set a fresh record highas concern over sovereign debtlevels in the euro-zone fuelledbuying of the metal as a safestore of value.
Spot gold was trading at$1,385.50 an ounce at 1643GMT against $1,368.09 late inNew York on Monday, havingearlier touched a session highof $1,385.95. US gold futures
for December delivery rose$20.70 an ounce to $1,386.70.
"Even the strong US dollarcould not push gold in dollarterms lower," said EugenWeinberg, an analyst atCommerzbank. "This suggeststhat the US dollar is not per-ceived as the primary safe havenright now, but rather gold."
Spot gold was heading for afourth consecutive month ofgains, matching a similar win-ning run from November 2008.Bullion is up around 26.4 percent in the year to date.
Euro-priced gold jumpedsome 2 per cent to a freshrecord at 1,067.93 euros anounce and was on track for itsbiggest monthly gain sinceMay -- up 9 per cent -- when
concerns over Portugal's finan-cial health first battered themarkets.
Gold priced in euros waslater at 1,061.74 euros anounce. Physical buying in Asiaremained supportive of goldprices. The world's largestgold-backed exchange-tradedfund, SPDR Gold Trust, said itsholdings rose to 1,286.603tonnes by Nov. 29 from1,285.084 tonnes on Nov. 22.
The International Monetary
Fund has slowed the rate ofselling its gold by 40 per centin October from the previousmonth, as interest among cen-tral banks to own the metal as ahedge against economic uncer-tainty rose.
Among other precious met-als, silver was up 3.5 per centat $28.07 an ounce against$27.12, 14 per cent higher onthe month, and palladium wason track for its fifth straightmonthly rise, up 7.9 per cent onthe month at $695.97.
Platinum was up 0.87 per centat $1,657.49 an ounce. On amonthly basis, it bucked theoverall positive trend in the com-plex, heading for a more than 2per cent drop, its first monthlydecline since August. -Reuters
Gold hits 2-1/2 wk highon eurozone jitters
Cocoa up as
election results
delayedLONDON: Cocoa futures roseon Tuesday as the marketawaited delayed results from apresidential election in topgrower Ivory Coast.
Sugar futures were sharplydown, weighed by indicationsthat India is still likely to export,while coffee prices also slid.
March cocoa on ICE rose $61or 2.2 per cent to $2,816 a tonneby 1602 GMT while Marchcocoa on Liffe climbed 26pounds or 1.9 per cent to 1,902pounds a tonne. Raw sugarfutures on ICE were also lower,under pressure partly from astronger dollar. The market wasalso weighed by comments fromthe Indian Sugar MillsAssociation that the 2010/11crop is expected to total 25.5 mil-lion tonnes. Dealers said a cropof that size may be sufficientlylarge to encourage the Indianauthorities to allow exports.
March raw sugar futures onICE slid about 5 per cent to alow of 27.03 cents a lb beforerebounding to 27.60 cents, stilldown 0.75 cent or 2.65 percent. White sugar futures onLiffe also fell with March off$19.10 at $708.70 per tonne.
Robusta coffee futures weremarginally lower, weakenedpartly by a pick-up in the paceof harvesting in top robustaproducer Vietnam.
January robusta coffeefutures on Liffe eased $5 or 0.3per cent to $1,774 a tonnewhile March arabica futures onICE dipped 1.85 cent or 0.9 percent to $2.0080 per lb. -Reuters
NEW YORK: US cottonfutures ended up by their dailylimit in light trade on Mondayas the market seemed to beconsolidating ahead of a possi-ble shot at topside technicaltargets in the next few ses-sions, analysts said.
Speculative fund buyingpowered the market as cottondefied a rise in the dollar to atwo-month high versus theeuro. The key March cottoncontract on ICE Futures USclimbed by the 4.00-cent dailylimit to end at $1.1576 per lb,with the session low at $1.121.
Volume traded was light atabout 14,200 lots, nearly two-
thirds below the 30-day averageabove 37,200 lots, preliminaryThomson Reuters datashowed.
"Cotton is doing itsown little thing today,"said Mike Stevens, anindependent cotton ana-lyst in Louisiana. "It's goingcounter to the dollar. The mar-ket is bouncing from an over-sold condition."
Cotton futures have lostabout a quarter of their valuesince hitting a record highabove $1.57 per lb in earlyNovember, basis the spot con-tract. The March contract maybe heading for short-term tech-
nical targets, analysts said.Stevens said an extended
bounce could lift March backtoward $1.26 or $1.36.
The near-term target wouldbe the 40-day moving averageat $1.193. Traders said China'scotton market provided little, ifany, inspiration. The May cot-ton futures on the ZhengzhouCommodity Exchange last trad-ed at 25,130 yuan per tonne, up425 yuan on the day. -Reuters
US cotton limits upin market rebound
KUALA LUMPUR:
Malaysian palm oil rallied to a28-month high on Tuesday astraders bet on continued strongexport demand amid lingeringconcerns over erratic weatherin edible oil producingregions.
Traders took positions aheadof a price outlook conferenceset to start on Wednesday inIndonesia where key analystsmay likely paint a bullish pic-ture for next year, pushing themarket to its highest level thisyear.
"The market always getsoptimistic ahead of a priceconference like that, but thistime, there is some credibilityas demand is strong and pro-duction is under pressure,"said a trader with a foreigncommodities broker.
Benchmark February 2011palm oil on the BursaMalaysia DerivativesExchange jumped as much as
2.3 per cent ringgit to 3,458ringgit ($1,097), a levelunseen since July 17, 2008.The contract later settled at3,412 ringgit.
Traded volumes more thandoubled from the usual to25,648 lots of 25 tonnes each.
Malaysia's November palmoil exports rose as much as19.2 per cent to 1.57 milliontonnes from a month ago withorders from China almost dou-bling despite steps by the gov-ernment release edible oilreserves to tame inflation.
Demand from China maypick up further as the countryprepares for the Lunar NewYear holidays in earlyFebruary.
US soyoil for Dec deliveryrose nearly 1 per cent in Asiantrade. The most-activeSeptember soyoil contract onthe Dalian CommoditiesExchange jumped 1.7 per cent.-Reuters
Palm oil hits28-mth high on
demand, weather
Indian sugar
drops on higher
Dec quotaMUMBAI: India's spot sugarprice fell on Tuesday after gov-ernment released higher-than-expected non-levy quota forDecember, although slow paceof cane crushing limited thedownside, dealers said.
India has made available 1.5million tonnes of non-levy sugarfor December, higher than 1.4million tonnes it had released forNovember, the government saidin a statement on Tuesday. "Thequota news hurt sentiments. Itwas higher than our expecta-tions....demand was also weakfrom bulk-consumers," saidShrikant Karwa, a sugar dealerbased in Phaltan, Maharashtra.
In Kolhapur, a key market intop-producing Maharashtra state,the most traded S-variety fell by0.94 per cent to 2,850 rupees($62.09) per 100 kg. Unseasonalrains over the two key Indiansugar producing states havepared the recovery rate by nearly1 per cent, initial reports show,and government and industryofficials worry persistent rainscould potentially hit output andtrim exports. -Reuters
Shanghai copper risesShanghai's benchmark
third month copper contract
rose 220 yuan to 62,530
yuan. In early trade,
Shanghai copper touched a
high of 62,850 yuan.
Shanghai copper ended the
month 0.2 per cent higher.
NY cotton early-trade
ICE March cotton futures rose
0.94 cent to $1.167 per lb on vol-
ume of 4,659 lots.
10Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Serbian Davis Cup team captain Obradovic talks
to Djokovic during a media conference in Belgrade
Madonnawants youto have a
toned bodyMEXICO CITY: She writeschildren's books and makeswine, dons a spandex leotardlike no one else and has soldmillions of albums around theworld. Now she wants you tohave a toned body.
Madonna launched her newbrand of "Hard Candy Fitness"gyms in Mexico City onMonday, opening a huge,30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) compoundwhere Mexico's rich and thebeautiful can go through danceclasses and fitness routinesinspired by the singer's rou-tines.
So why choose a sprawlingmetropolis of some 20 millionpeople, struggling with crime,pollution and endless trafficjams to kick off an internation-al sports venture that mayeventually include gyms inRussia, Brazil and Argentina?
"I have a history withMexico," Madonna, wearing ablack and white-striped dresswith boots, told Reuters.
"I have a connection that Ihave always felt anywaysbecause of my love and inter-est in Frida Kahlo," she added,referring to one of Mexico'sbest-known 20th centurypainters.
Hundreds of screaming fans,from boys wearing "Mexicansdo it better" T-shirts to dragqueens in leg warmers, linedup outside the gym in a fruit-less effort to get a glimpse ofthe singer, who arrived tightlyprotected by security. Guests atthe launch included the capi-tal's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard,and Carlos Slim Domit, theson of the world's richest man,Carlos Slim.-Reuters
Nat’l gamesfrom 25th at
PeshawarLAHORE: The Organisingcommittee of 31st NationalGames is meditative ofincluding football and hockeyas they are re looking toinclude two top games in thebiennial Games. KhyberPakhtunkhwa Sports MinisterSyed Aqil Shah announcedthat the 31st National Gameswill take place from 25-31December 2010 at Peshawar.
National Games offer 25sports for men and seven forwomen. Women swimmingand shooting contests will beheld in Islamabad due to lackof facilities in Peshawar,Authorities had earlier decid-ed to include 28 games in theevent but football, hockey andcycling were later dropped.
"After Pakistan football andhockey team proved them-selves in Asian Games, manypeople showered praise on theteams and now PakistanOlympics Association (POA)are under think tank to includethe thrilling outdoor sports inthe event's fold," . Earlier,POA decided to exclude asmany as 12 outdoor disci-plines on grounds of securityin the volatile North WestProvince of KhyberPakhtunkhwa. However, POAwas criticised for snubbingmajor sports from the nationalgames and many advised tomove the games from theprovince if the conditionswere so bad. It will be sixthGames on KhyberPakhtunkhwa after 1958,1974, 1982, 1990 and 1998 atPeshawar that saw change ofname by NA on 8 April thisyear. The same city saw thedebut of football in 1982 withPAF winning the gold."Certainly national gameswould not have the glosswithout the beautiful games. -APP
BARCELONA: Barcelonaconjured up a magical perform-ance that rolled back the yearsto Johan Cruyff's "DreamTeam" of the 1990s to crusharch-rivals Real Madrid 5-0and move two points clear atthe top of La Liga on Monday.
In a festival atmosphere attheir rain-lashed Nou Campstadium, the Barca playersentertained their ecstatic fanswith a breathtaking display offree-flowing football that leftReal's array of expensive talentchasing the ball for long peri-ods.
Watched by millions aroundthe world, it was the Catalanclub's most emphatic victory inSpain's "Clasico" sinceCruyff's all-conquering side,featuring current coach PepGuardiola, thrashed Real 5-0 inthe 1993-94 season.
It also put a severe dent inReal's resurgence under newcoach Jose Mourinho, a formerassistant at Barca who had ledhis side into the match unde-feated in all competitions.
Xavi and Pedro struck earlyto put Barca 2-0 up beforeDavid Villa scored in the 55thand 58th minutes to raise thenoise levels to a deafeningpitch.
Substitute Jeffren added afifth in stoppage time and Realdefender Sergio Ramos wassent off for a badly-timed chal-lenge on Lionel Messi at thedeath.
Barca have 34 points from 13of 38 matches, with Real on 32and Villarreal in third on 27.
"Today Barca were far supe-rior and enjoyed playing in itsown style," Spain striker Villasaid in a television interview.
"Madrid did not feel at ease
and did not know how to, orcould not I think, dominate themidfield which is the strengthof our team," he added.
"We are two points clear,very happy, but we have tocontinue working as we areonly in November and we needto carry on winning."
The eagerly-anticipated clashbetween the world's two richestclubs was seen as a first gen-uine test of Real's resurgenceunder Portuguese Mourinho.
Featuring 13 players fromSpain's World Cup-winningsquad, eight from Barca andfive from Real, it also pittedBarca's Argentina forwardMessi against the man he suc-ceeded as World Player of theYear, Real's Cristiano Ronaldo.
The champions dominatedfrom the start on a slick playingsurface that favoured theirswift passing game, with Realsitting back and looking tostrike on the counter.
Messi curled a shot againstthe post in the sixth minute andafter the home side went aheadfour minutes later they neverlooked back.
Xavi was played in by Spainteam mate Andres Iniesta andhe lifted the ball neatly overIker Casillas from close range.
The Spain midfielder wasdictating the play and wasinstrumental in Barca's secondin the 18th.
He sprayed the ball wide toVilla and Casillas could onlypalm his cross into the path ofPedro who gleefully sidefootedhome. Messi totally outshoneRonaldo and carved open thevisitors' defence for both ofVilla's goals as well as comingclose to scoring several timesin the second half.-Reuters
BarcabulldozesReal 5-0
BARCELONA: Barca’s Xavi shoots to score past Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Casillas during their Spanish first division match.-Reuters
LAHORE: Pakistan CricketBoard has announced thenational squad for the forth-coming tour of New Zealandhere on Tuesday.
Misbah-ul-Haq and ShahidAfridi have been retained ascaptains for Test andTwenty20 teams, respectively.
Wi c k e t k e e p e r - b a t s m a nKamran Akmal, veteran bats-man Mohammad Yousuf andopening batsman Imran Farhathave been left out of thesquad.
Kamran, who was ruled outof Pakistan's recent seriesagainst South Africa in theUnited Arab Emirates aftersurgery for appendicitis, hasbeen at the centre of match-fixing allegations.
The International CricketCouncil (ICC) reportedlyissued notice to him regardingPakistan's controversial defeat
against Australia in theSydney Test in January.
But there were reports inPakistani media suggestingAkmal, 28, had contacted theICC regarding his selectionand was told that he wascleared for selection.
Yousuf, 36, had to returnhome after a recurrence of agroin injury earlier this monthand although he too was fea-turing in the domestic match-es, selectors left him out.
Also out of the team wasformer captain Shoaib Malikwhile Sohail Tanveer hasmade comeback in the nation-al team..
Malik, 28, was also left outof the team against the SouthAfrican series after perform-ing poorly on the tour ofEngland.
The PCB has said thatWahab Riaz’s includion in the
team depends on his fitness.Twenty20 squad: Shahid
Afridi (captain), MohammadHafeez, Ahmed Shahzad,Younis Khan, Umar Akmal,Fawad Alam, Adnan Akmal,Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman,Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul,Shoaib Akhtar, TanveerAhmed, Sohail Tanveer,Wahab Riaz.
Test squad: Misbah-ul-Haq(captain), Mohammad Hafeez,Taufiq Umer, Younis Khan,Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, UmarAkmal, Adnan Akmal, SaeedAjmal, Abdul Rehman, UmarGul, Tanveer Ahmed, SohailTanveer, Wahab Riaz.
Pakistan will play threeTwenty20 Internationals, twoTests and six One-dayInternationals on the 45-daytour. The squad for ODI serieswill be announced later. -Agencies
Pak squad namedfor NZealand tour
BRISBANE: Blame, not cred-it, was the bitter medicinerequired after England savedthe first Ashes test at the Gabbawith a record-breaking secondinnings, Australia's mediadecreed on Tuesday.
Led by Alastair Cook's unbeat-en 235, England batted throughtwo days to rescue a dire posi-tion and take a morale boostingdraw on Monday at a venuewhere Australia traditionallyputs tourists to the sword.
Australian captain RickyPonting was once again thewhipping boy of a media moreused to trumpeting winners and
champions than explainingwhy their team had failed totake more than one wicket intwo days of cricket.
"Ashes humiliation - Pontinglets Gabba test slip away," readthe front page of theAustralian, while Brisbane'sCourier-Mail splashed theword "Clueless" over anunflattering picture of theAustralia skipper.
"Has Australian cricket reallyfallen this far? Is the nationalteam really this bad?" MalcolmConn, who would usually beemptying buckets of scorn overthe tourists by this stage of the
series, wrote in the Australian."Not since Allan Border des-
perately tried to hold together arabble gutted by South Africanrebel tours in the mid-1980shas Australian cricket per-formed so poorly.
"Anyone who had the misfor-tune of watching Australia's sad-sack effort in the field yesterdaycould only worry that we'replumbing those depths again."
It was against Border's weak-ened team that England lastwon the Ashes on Australiansoil in 1986-87 but since thenthe contests have not even beenclose. -Reuters
Aussies under hardmedia criticism
ZURICH: World Cups held inEngland and the United Stateswould meet all of FIFA's pro-jected revenue targets anddeliver bigger profits to worldsoccer's governing body thanany of their competitors,according to a confidentialreport seen by Reuters.
Both England, who are bid-ding for the 2018 finals, andthe US, bidding for 2022, weregiven an unbeatable overall100 per cent rating by manage-ment consultants McKinsey.
McKinsey were commis-sioned by FIFA to analyse eachbid across five key revenuestreams: sponsorship, ticket-ing, hospitality, licensing andmedia rights.
The report, which does notreveal FIFA's projected targetfigure, just each country'spotential to meet it, has beensent to the 22 FIFA memberswho will decide the destina-tions of the two World Cups onThursday.
It will be discussed by theexecutive committee for thefirst time on Wednesday.
The report, entitled FIFA'sWorld Cup Host CandidateAssessment, gave England anoverall 100 per cent rating for2018, followed bySpain/Portugal with 91 percent, Netherlands/Belgium 87per cent and Russia 86 per cent.
For 2022, it rated the UnitedStates top with an overall 100per cent evaluation, followed
by Japan with 73 per cent,South Korea 71 per cent, Qatar70 per cent, and Australia on 68per cent.
England scored 100 per centin all five of the revenue streamareas, while the United Statesscored 100 per cent in four.
All the European candidatesfor 2018 scored 100 per cent inmedia rights becauseMcKinsey did not see a varia-tion in revenue potential as allcountries fall into the sameEuropean time zone for broad-casting matches.
The biggest difference in any2018 revenue stream came inhospitality in which Englandagain scored 100 per cent andRussia 56 per cent. Englandalso had the highest revenuepotential in licensing and mer-chandising, likely to hit 100per cent of its target figure,while Netherlands/Belgiumscored 73 per cent. The reportcomes as a huge boost toEngland's bid for 2018 in par-ticular, following the BBC'sPanorama TV programmescreened on Monday eveningin the United Kingdom whichalleged corruption at the headof world soccer's governingbody. The McKinsey reportcomes after the publication ofFIFA's Technical Evaluationreports following the visit of itsinspectors in which Englandwere also given the highest rat-ing by the inspection team. -Reuters
Eng, US are bestrevenue options
FIFA’s confidential biding report released
Lara termsTendulkaras today’sBradman
DUBAI: Saluting the longevityof Sachin Tendulkar, WestIndies great Brian Lara hasdescribed the Indian battinglegend as the `Don Bradman` ofmodern era but refused to thecompare the icons of differenteras.
Lara, himself a legendaryleft-handed batsman from theCaribbean, said what astonisheshim the most about Tendulkaris his longevity.
"I don`t think there is anyrace. Both are great players.Tendulkar has shown the worldwhat he is capable of and hislongevity in the game is some-thing to be really appreciated,"Lara said.
"The time he will spend in thegame, records are going to tum-ble. The fact that someone canbe there from the age of 16 andstill at the age of 37 performbrilliantly is something that Icherish more than anythingelse," he said.
The West Indies player is ofthe opinion that Australiangreat Don Bradman, who endedhis career with an incredibleTest average of 99.96, andTendulkar should not be com-pared as they played and flour-ished in different eras.
"He is our period`s DonBradman. Forget the differencein averages with Bradman butwhoever I have spoken to whohave seen very old players inaction, they believe that he[Bradman] would not haveaveraged 99 in today`s crick-et."-APP
Iqra beatsAKU invarsitytennis
KARACHI: Iqra Universityregistered an exciting 3-2 victo-ry over AKU Greens in theinaugural Inter UniversityTennis Championship at AKUTennis courts here.
Amir Dervesh and AsadHussain played the main role intheir team's triumph when theybeat Omer Hayat Khan andZalan Khan in the decisive dou-bles 6-0, 6-0 to win the match.
Amir and Asad earlier wontheir singles. Amir beat AmmanFasahat 6-0, 6-3 and Asad beatHassan Zeb 6-2, 6-3.
Omer Hayat Khan defeatedYasir Ali 6-2, 6-4 and ZalanKhan beat Amjad Khan 6-0, 6-0 to win their matches for AKUGreens.-APP
ZURICH: CEO Sorokin and chairman Mutko of Russia's bid committee for the FIFA soccerworld cups 2018 and 2022 address a news conference.-Reuters
11Wednesday, December 1, 2010
International & Continuation
CONTINUATIONconveyed his felicitations to President Rajapaksa on the deci-
sive defeat of terrorism in Sri Lanka, after many years of conflict.President Rajapaksa who reiterated appreciation for the assis-
tance provided by Pakistan during Sri Lanka's fight against terror-ism also elaborated on the steps taken by the government to returnnormalcy to the country, after a 30 year conflict.
The spokesman said the President of Pakistan expressed appre-ciation for Sri Lanka's humanitarian assistance during unprece-dented floods in Pakistan in July- August this year.
Both leaders directed that officials of the respective Finance /Economic Ministries should meet soon to discuss measures topromote trade between the two countries, including through theextension of innovative lines of credit and/or barter. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #1
services provided beyond credit and the quality of borrowerinformation. A marked improvement in rankings is the result ofthe State Bank of Pakistan's proactive approach to microfinanceregulations.
SBP revisited a number of microfinance regulations amendingrules to support microfinance banks (MFBs), such as lifting regu-lations that prevented them from accepting foreign currency loansfrom international investors and relaxing the limits on borrowers'annual income upward from Rs150,000 to Rs300,000 for generalloans, and Rs600,000 for housing loans.
Also, the loan classification criteria for MFBs were aligned withinternational best practices and industry norms.
The EIU Report has validated the SBP's approach to microfi-nance development in Pakistan.
SBP has adopted a five-year Microfinance Strategic Frameworkthat is not only focused on policy, legal and regulatory frameworkfor the microfinance industry, but also, strengthening the neces-sary infrastructure and supporting mechanisms to promote diver-sity and sustainability in the microfinance business.
Under the Strategic Framework, SBP raised Minimum CapitalRequirements for Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to ensure that onlysuch sponsors venture to establish MFBs which have adequatefinancial resources to meet the present and future capital require-ments. Moreover, the increased share capital will facilitate MFBsto meet the growing demand for investments in technology inten-sive infrastructure and information systems to deploy mobilebanking services.
Also, SBP will soon be launching the Financial Innovation Fundto support alternative delivery channels such as delivery of finan-cial services through mobile phones etc. to bring down costs andimprove microfinance viability. -Online
Continued from page 12No #2
measures are taken successfully," Lipsky said, speaking on thesidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) conference inDubai. The European Commission forecast on Monday that Irishgross domestic product (GDP) would grow by just 0.9 percentnext year, roughly half the level penciled in by the governmentjust a few weeks ago, and a fraction of the 3.25 percent Dublinwas originally forecasting.
"It would have been unrealistic to expect that a set of announce-ments over the weekend were going to completely reverse marketmomentum. To reverse this momentum will take some time, evenin the best of circumstances," Lipsky said.
Some 35 billion euros was earmarked to help restructure theshattered banks, of which 10 billion will be an immediate capitalinjection and the rest a contingency fund.
"Market participants will be skeptical initially, they will want tosee actual performance on the economic measures and disburse-ment of the cash," Lipsky said.
"The challenge for Ireland is to stabilize the financial system, tostabilize the fiscal situation, to give confidence in the sustainabil-ity of the economic environment for some time to come," Lipskysaid.
Lipsky said European debt worries over the past year andIreland's bailout were not impacting growth in the Gulf oil-pro-ducing countries.
"We don't see a direct connection. More important to the Gulf isthe health of the global economy, especially the energy markets,but also the strength of Asian economies that are emerging as trad-ing partners for this region," he said. -Reuters
Continued from page 12No #3
with regard to summoning foreign co-accused had already beensubmitted in the court wherein it was stated that the summons of theforeigners could not be issued.
It may be recalled that in the Cotecna Reference Begum NusratBhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, A R Siddiqui and 6 Swiss officials arecharged with obtaining 6 per cent commission in the pre-shipment
Continued from page 12No #4
outflows in December," said a dealer. Dealers expect an outflowof an additional 500-600 billion rupees as corporate advance taxpayments in mid-December, which could put further stress on thecash strapped banking system.
The weighted average rate in the call money market was 6.59percent compared with 6.77 percent on Monday, and that in thecollateralised borrowing and lending obligation (CBLO) marketwas 6.24 percent, little changed from Monday's 6.23 percent.
The volumes in the call market were a low 42.83 billion rupeescompared with a total of 46.78 billion rupees on Monday. InCBLO it was 493.60 billion rupees versus previous 533.97 billionrupees. -Reuters
Continued from page 12No #5
NEW DELHI: India's domes-tically-powered economygrew more than expected inthe September quarter, defyingweakness elsewhere and put-ting pressure on the centralbank to tighten monetary poli-cy although a rate increasenext month still looks unlikely.
Annual gross domestic prod-uct grew 8.9 per cent in theSeptember quarter -- matchingthe revised figure for the pre-vious quarter and above aReuters' forecast of 8.3 percent.
"Governor Subbarao hasstrongly hinted that the RBI(Reserve Bank of India) willtake a break from raising poli-cy rates for the next one or twomonths, but the strong growthnumbers today may change hismind," said Brian Jackson,strategist at Royal Bank ofCanada in Hong Kong.
"Inflation is still the numberone policy focus, and we con-tinue to expect more rate hikesin the months ahead, perhapsas soon as the next meeting inDecember," he said.
The RBI's next policy reviewis on Dec. 16. Analysts polledby Reuters expect the centralbank to raise rates by an addi-tional 25 basis points by theend of March.
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh's govern-
ment, facing parliamentarydeadlock over a scandal inwhich telecom licences arealleged to have been grant-ed too cheaply -- is underpressure to rein in inflationwhile keeping high econom-ic growth on track.
Consumer price inflationeased to an annual 9.7 per centin October from 9.82 per centthe previous month, datashowed on Tuesday.Wholesale price inflation,which is more closely watchedas it covers a higher number ofproducts, eased to 8.58 percent in October from 8.62 percent a month earlier.
Strong growth in India con-trasted with data on Tuesdayfrom Japan and South Korea,where factories cut output inOctober adding to evidence ofan Asia-wide slowdown andboding ill for the rest of theworld that has relied on theregion to keep the global econ-omy humming.
China's economy grew at 9.6per cent in the Septemberquarter, down from 10.3 percent in the previous quarter.
India's benchmark 10-yearbond yield closed up 6 basispoints on the day, despite fur-ther extension of liquidity eas-ing measures by the centralbank late on Monday, whichdisappointed markets that had
instead been hoping for a cutin banks' reserve require-ments.
Markets expect the RBI tohold rates steady during itspolicy statement in December,after Subbarao said early thismonth that the RBI wasunlikely to raise rates for thenext three months. However,the long end of the swap curverose further than the short endon Tuesday, causing a bearsteepening, reflecting marketworries of a rate increasesooner rather than later -- or atleast a more hawkish stancefrom the RBI.
The benchmark five-yearswap ended up 6 basis pointson the day at 7.30 per cent,after touching 7.31 per cent, itshighest since Nov. 11, whilethe one-year rate ended down4 points at 6.78 per cent.
Investment growth slowedon an annualised basis to 11.1per cent from 19 per cent in theprevious quarter, while annu-alised private consumptionaccelerated to 9.3 per centfrom 7.8 per cent in the previ-ous quarter, pointing to infla-tionary risks.
The services sector, whichaccounts for over 50 per centof GDP, grew 9.8 per cent inthe September quarter, higherthan 9.3 per cent in the previ-ous quarter.-Reuters
India GDP surges 8.9pc
Irelanddeal to calm markets: IMFDUBAI: The deal to bail outIreland from its debt crisis willtake time to reverse marketmomentum, but growth is likelyto return in the short term, theIMF's first deputy managingdirector said on Tuesday.
The extension of Ireland'sdeadline for plugging its budgetblack hole is also a positive stepbut the challenge to stabilise thecountry's financial systemremain.
"It isn't just a matter of show-ing that banks are adequatelycapitalised. You have to showthat they have adequate accessto funding," John Lipsky toldReuters Insider.
"The European authoritieshave announced that a newround of (bank) stress tests will,in addition to examining issuesof regulatory capital, will alsolook at the challenge of funding.And that may produce a differ-ent answer about the backupfacilities that may be required toensure confidence in the stabili-ty of banking systems," he said.
Some analysts have describedthis year's health checks onEuropean Union banks, whichnone of Ireland's lenders failed,as an irrelevance in light of theIrish bailout.
The EU approved an 85 bil-lion euro ($115 billion) rescuefor Ireland on Sunday and out-lined a permanent system toresolve Europe's debt crisis, inwhich private investors wouldgradually share the cost of anyfuture default.-Reuters
Party (PPP) here on Tuesday, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf RazaGilani said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto furnished unforgettablesacrifices, adding PPP is the name of movement, mission, spiritand strength. He further said that they would continue the missionthe Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto andlead the country in way to success.
PM Gilani said that the incumbent government had completedthe promises of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto including NFC awards,provincial autonomy, and sovereignty of Gilgit-Baltistan andrestoration of peace in Swat.
He said the government had restored the sacked employeeswhile remaining would also be reinstated on their posts.
PM directed that the some 20,000 rupees should be issuedinstantly to the flood affected people while the federal govern-ment would issue one-lac to each victim.
He praised the role media saying that media would be independ-ently in democratic regimes and they believed on the positive crit-icism. Despite the severe flooding across the country, flour is notshort in the country.
Gilani said that the incumbent government completed recorddevelopmental works and they promoted the politics of reconcili-ation. He stated that the PPP would not be weakened as its rootsstretched across the country. -Agencies
Continued from page 1No #6
due to terrorism. He hailed the role of the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in war against terror. Gilani said that the govern-ment is making strenuous efforts for the well-being of the people.
He was of the view that provincial government must immediate-ly restore all sacked employees.
PPP manifesto is Roti, Kapra and Makaan and want to ensurethat institutions and departments are strengthened, PM stressed.Parliament is the supreme authority, adding government respectits verdict thick and thin as we are living in a democratic country,PM said.
Regarding sugar and flour crises, PM said that poor masseswould be provided with both items on durable prices while hoard-ers will not be allowed to play with price lists at any cost.
He further added that PPP believes in politics of reconciliationrather than politics of vengeance.
PM was flanked by federal ministers Syed Naveed Qamar,Rehman Malik, Najmuddin Khan, Arbab Muhammad AlamgirKhan, Lal Muhammad Khan and Advisor to Prime Minister,Asma Alamgir on the occasion.
Continued from page 1No #7
claims of expenditures incurred in this war are sent to the US onquarterly basis through proper channel.
The army receives no direct payment from the US and it is thegovt of Pakistan that gets the payments and out of these payments40 per cent stays with the govt while the remaining is Army'sshare.
Sources told that recently army had filed a claim of Rs11.59 bil-lion but US raised certain objections on the receipts filed with theclaims and only paid Rs7.9 billion out of which army only gotRs1.6 billion.
Sources said that Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayanihimself had raised the issue with President Asif Ali Zardari andPrime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during his meetings with thembut no headway has been made in this regard.
Sources add that difference of opinions also exist betweenFinance Ministry and Pakistan army's military accounts depart-ment in this regard. -Online
Continued from page 1No #8
ministers, 18 state ministers and 2 advisors. -Online
Continued from page 1No #9
Nearly a year passed since issuers of some of the major TFCs defaulted. While efforts for restrict-ing the delinquent issuers continue, it is imperative the Mufap resolve the issue at the earliest.
The pricing mechanism currently being followed by the Mufap often resulted is variation in cal-culated and actual prices. The situation emerges because Mufap used discount rate as benchmark.This jacks up price artificially.
During the month of October 2010, Rs1.77 billion worth of TFCs/ Sukuks have been traded. Inwhich Bank Alfalah fixed TFC's & Pakistan Mobile Communication floating TFC's traded almost20 per cent of total traded value i.e. amount of Rs374 and Rs354 million respectively.
Moving towards MoM increase in TFCs revaluation prices, Askari Bank TFCs issue date of 18thNovember 2009 up by 11.5 per cent to price at Rs100.50 at the end of October 2010 as compared toRs90.13 at the start of month, offering yield of 14.66 per cent at ending price.
Bank Alfalah TFC's having a fixed coupon of 15 per cent also surged 11.0 per cent to price atRs97.50 till October 2010 as compared to Rs87.83 at the start of the month, followed by PakistanMobile Communication issued date of 28 Oct, 2008 up by 9.7 per cent to Rs86.60, offering yield of20.15 per cent.
On the flip side, Eden Housing Sukuk dropped 3.6 per cent during the month of October 2010, fol-lowed by Bank Alfalah floating TFC's & Engro Fertilizer PRP TFCs dropped 8.3 per cent & 8.6 percent in October 2010.
Continued from page 1No #10
Bill as it was going to result in greater civilian control on the military, report said. According to thereleased documents, Kayani is using the parliament and the govt while staying in the background,the documents allege.
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strategic value for Beijing, according to leaked US documents.The memos published by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks also allege that China may have
turned a blind eye to illicit North Korean missile parts exports and that the top leadership was behindcyberattacks on Google and US targets.
Over an expansive dinner last year, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan revealed that Beijingconsiders North Korea's nuclear program to be "very troublesome," according to one memo.
Ambassador Cheng Guoping "said China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but heexpects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term," said the leaked cable by USAmbassador Richard Hoagland and reprinted by Britain's Guardian newspaper.
China has given a muted response to the leaks which have left key American allies red-faced byembarrassing revelations urging the United States to "properly handle" the issue.
"We hope the US side will properly handle relevant issues," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Leisaid when asked about the leaks, adding that Beijing did not "want to see any disturbances to China-US relations."
In one cable reproduced by The New York Times, a Chinese official whose name was removedsaid Beijing believed North Korea had "gone too far" after carrying out its second nuclear test in2009 and firing a missile.
The official told a US diplomat "that Chinese officials had expressed Chinese displeasure to NorthKorean counterparts and had pressed (North Korea) to return to the negotiation table," it said.
"Unfortunately," the Chinese official was quoted as saying, "those protests had had no effect.""The only country that can make progress with the North Koreans is the United States," the offi-
cial said, according to the cable.WikiLeaks has outraged the US government with its massive release of sensitive data. The memos
became public a week after North Korea shelled a South Korean border island, killing four peopleand sending tensions soaring. China North Korea's main ally and economic lifeline has come underhuge pressure to use its influence on Pyongyang to ease the situation, but so far, Beijing has refusedto publicly condemn its neighbor.
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forces, leaked American diplomatic cables revealed on Tuesday.American officials said they had repeatedly rebuked the President and Afghan attorney general
Muhammad Ishaq Alko for authorising the release of detainees over a three-year period."Both authorise the release of detainees pre-trial and allow dangerous individuals to go free or re-
enter the battlefield without ever facing an Afghan court," said a cable dated August 2009 and clas-sified as "secret" by then-US deputy ambassador to Afghanistan Francis Ricciardone.
"Despite our complaints and expressions of concern to the GIRoA (Afghan government), pre-trialreleases continue," it said. Internet whistleblower WikiLeaks has begun releasing a quarter of a mil-lion confidential US diplomatic cables, detailing embarrassing and inflammatory episodes in whatthe White House called a "reckless and dangerous action".
They were pardoned "on the grounds that they were distantly related to two individuals who hadbeen martyred during the civil war," the cable noted. The document said Karzai also intervened in anarcotics case involving the son of a wealthy businessman and one of his supporters.
The president ordered a second investigation "without any constitutional authority" it said, whichfound the defendant had been framed. The latest cable strikes at the heart of Western fears that high-level corruption within the Afghan government and judiciary is undermining the nine-year waragainst the Taliban. Last week the attorney general, a key ally of the president, was accused of play-ing politics over a criminal probe into the country's fraud-marred parliamentary elections that wereheld in September. The probe has queried the disqualification of 24 poll candidates by the country'stop electoral body. -Reuters
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their movements after their release, a US diplomatic memo released by WikiLeaks revealed onTuesday. "I've just thought of something," Abdullah blurted during a March 2009 meeting withWhite House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan.
The two were discussing the fate of 99 Yemenis still held at the time in the controversial US mil-itary prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The king proposed the prisoners be implanted with electronic microchips so that after their releasethey can be tracked "with Bluetooth" technology, a US embassy report on the meeting said.
Abdullah explained that "this was done with horses and falcons," according to the memo. But"horses don't have good lawyers," Brennan replied. -APP
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partner despite the massive leak of secret diplomatic cables. "Obviously this is a matter of greatconcern because we don't want anyone in any of the countries that could be affected by these allegedleaks to have any doubts about our intentions, and about our commitments," she told reporters.
Her Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara told a new conference: "It's just outrageous. It's a crimi-nal act." US officials insisted they would pursue WikiLeaks creator Assange, an Australian believedto be living in Europe, if he is found to have violated US law. Assange described the mass of docu-mentation in an interview with Forbes magazine as a "diplomatic history of the United States" cov-ering "every major issue." Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, a long-time US critic, praisedAssange while Ecuador even offered the 39-year-old sanctuary.
"We are going to invite him to come to Ecuador so he can freely present the information he pos-sesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums," KinttoLucas, Ecuador's deputy foreign minister, told the Internet site Ecuadorinmediato.
An international arrest warrant was issued in mid-November for Assange on suspicion of rape andsexual molestation of two women in Sweden. Chavez praised Assange for his courage and saidClinton should resign over the revelations in the leaks. "The empire stands naked... Mrs Clintonshould resign," Chavez said in a speech, using his favourite description of the United States. "It's theleast you can do: resign, along with those other delinquents working in the State Department."
China urged the US to get a grip on issues related to the leaking of the secret diplomatic cables."We hope the US side will properly handle relevant issues," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei
said when asked about the leaks. The leaked cables contained allegations that China turned a blindeye to illicit North Korean missile parts exports and that the top Chinese leadership was behindcyberattacks on US web search giant Google and US targets. "We don't want to see any disturbanceto China-US relations," Hong added during a regular press briefing. Another cable quoted Chineseofficials calling the erratic North Korean regime -- China's ally -- a spoiled child and said Beijingwould be willing to accept a reunited Korea. Iran cast doubt on the authenticity of the documentsand told its Arab neighbours not to fall into the whistleblower's "trap."
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suicide attack. One eye witness told the media that he saw a man going towards the police van andafter a few minutes there was a huge blast. -Online
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government's figure," Sheikh told Reuters. "Our assessments are that the production will be near-ly 6 million tonnes. We are now aiming to export about 4 million tonnes of rice this year on goodglobal demand." Reap's export target tops previous trader estimates by almost a million tonnes.
The government in September estimated losses of up to two million tonnes from the Augustfloods. Before the floods, the food ministry expected 6.1 million tonnes for the 2010/11 crop.
The reason for the increased estimate, Sheikh said, is that the monsoon floods, which devastatedmore than 2.4 million hectares of farmland, did not affect the rice crop in the Punjab province, whichproduces 60 per cent of the total national output. Production losses in the second-largest rice grow-ing province of Sindh were estimated at about 500,000 tonnes, but that would largely be offset bythe better yield in Punjab, Sheikh said. The president of the Agri-Forum Pakistan agreed with theREAP's production estimates. "Despite losses in Sindh, our production estimate is between 5.7 mil-lion tonnes and 6.1 million tonnes, as per-acre yield in Punjab has increased by up to 10 percent,"said Ibrahim Mughal. -Reuters
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urea were recorded at Rs853 per bag, showing a surge of 0.2 per cent MoM against price of Rs851per bag recorded in September 2010. However, average retail price of DAP during October 2010stood at Rs2713 per bag compared with Rs2628 per bag during September 2010, showing anincrease of 3.2 per cent MoM. On the other hand, cumulative offtake of urea decreased by 8.8 percent to 4.62 million tonnes in 10MCY10 compared with 5.06 million tonnes in 10MCY09, whileDAP sales down by 14.7 per cent at 1.05 million tonnes versus 1.23 million tonnes in 10MCY09mainly due to higher average prices.
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contracts.Name of Benazir Bhutto was struck off from the list due to her
death while the court proceedings against Nusrat Bhutto were pend-ing due to her ailment. -Online
Printed & Published by Amir Abbas Ashary at DRC Printing Press for Data Research Communication (PVT) LTD, 111-C, Jami Commercial Phase VII, DHA Karachi.
ISLAMABAD: Special committee ofPublic Accounts Committee (PAC) haswarned car manufacturing companies inthe Pakistan that day to day hike in theprices of cars on their part and theirmonopoly in the market will not be tol-erated.
Committee met here Tuesday underKhawaja Saad Rafiq.
Committee said the companies werecommitting breach of the agreement bynot manufacturing cars at country level,adding these companies would not beallowed to exploit the people.
Giving remarks Khawaja Asif saidcar-manufacturers were part of the classof Pakistani society which was exploit-ing Pakistani nation. As to why a coun-try which is making atomic bomb cannot
manufacture engines of the vehicles, hequestioned.
If the manufacturing companies thinkthat they will continue to exploit thepeople by exercising their influence thenvoice will be raised in the Parliamentagainst this state of affairs, he cautioned.
If car manufacturing companies giveassurance to the government to manu-facture the cars at domestic level andbring them at par with international stan-dard quality wise then the governmentwill assure them for not importing oldvehicles and providing them other facil-ities, he added.
Car-manufacturers alleged that 65 percent of the tax being paid by them toCBR is swallowed in corruption. -Online
Carmakers comeunder PAC fire
Auto cos not allowed to exploit people
DUBAI: The deal to bail out Irelandfrom its debt crisis will take time toreverse market momentum, but growthis likely to return in the short term, theIMF's first deputy managing directorsaid on Tuesday.
The extension of Ireland's deadline forplugging its budget black hole is also apositive step, but the challenge to sta-bilise the country's financial systemremain.
"It isn't just a matter of showing thatbanks are adequately capitalised. Youhave to show that they have adequateaccess to funding," John Lipsky toldReuters Insider.
"The European authorities haveannounced that a new round of (bank)stress tests will, in addition to examiningissues of regulatory capital, will also
look at the challenge of funding. Andthat may produce a different answerabout the backup facilities that may berequired to ensure confidence in the sta-bility of banking systems," he said.
Some analysts have described thisyear's health checks on European Unionbanks, which none of Ireland's lendersfailed, as an irrelevance in light of theIrish bailout.
The EU approved an 85 billion euro($115 billion) rescue for Ireland onSunday and outlined a permanent sys-tem to resolve Europe's debt crisis, inwhich private investors would graduallyshare the cost of any future default.
"It is not going to be easy, but weexpect growth is going to resume in rel-atively short order if the appropriate
See # 3 Page 11
Irish deal to taketime to calm mkts
ISLAMABAD: Spokesman to AllPakistan Muslim League (APML)Tuesday defending its' chief PervezMusharraf's policies about Israel saidthat former president's stance was clearon Israel and expressed its grave con-cerns over WikiLeaks documents.
The WikiLeaks documents reveal thatIsraeli intelligence agency Mossad wasconcerned for former Pakistan PresidentPervez Musharraf's well-being andwanted him to remain in power in 2007.The revelation was made in a secretcable message originating from theAmerican embassy in Tel Aviv.
In a statement here, spokesman to AllPakistan Muslim League (APML) saidthat former president PervezMusharraf's stance over Israel was clear
that on the basis of two states, liberationof Israel and Palestine is interlinked witheach other after that Arabs could be con-vinced on giving guarantee of Israelsafety otherwise freedom struggle byPalestinians would continue till elimina-tion of Israel's occupation.
AMPL spokesman further said thatduring Pervez Musharraf's regime hehad made it clear on America severaltimes that disputes of Kashmir andPalestine are root causes of terrorism inall over the world while resolution ofthese disputes could bring peace in theworld.
The spokesman further said that thepoint is in top in manifesto of AMPLthat till freedom of Palestine, Israelwould not be accepted. -Online
AMPL advocatesMusharraf stance
‘Musharraf has clear policy about Israel’
CAA groundsRussian
planes in PakISLAMABAD: Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) has imposeda ban on all flights of Russianplanes from airports all over thecountry on Tuesday.
The decision was made as aresult of the Russian cargoplane crash near Dalmia,Karachi late Saturday night.
According to a private TVchannel, the instructionsregarding the ban imposed onthe flights of Russian planeshave been sent to the adminis-tration of all main airports.
All Russian planes willremain grounded at airportsuntil new orders are issued. Thestaff of these planes is allowedto stay in Pakistan, if it wants.
According to internationalaviation rules, no plane will bestopped from landing inPakistan, but take-off can bebanned. -Online
Forces kill5 terrorists
in SwatSWAT: During the operation ofthe security forces in Swat andBuner 5 extremists were killedand heavy weapons wererecovered from their posses-sion.
According to security forcesin the area of Biyakand ofSwat, two extremists enteringfrom the Kabil district wereasked to stop on suspicion butinstead they open fired on thesecurity forces and as a resultthey got shot. The names of theextremists are Azmat Ali andIzzat Mand belonging to Mattaarea.
In another operation of thesecurity forces on a tip off that3 extremists were present inAilamsar ,the border area ofSwat and Buner, and upon theoperation of the security forcesall 3 of them were killed.
Their names are Latif-ur-Rehman alias Abu Abbas,Shamsul Alam, and Dawood.
According to the securitysources Latif-ur-Rehman aliasAbu Abbas Buner is consideredto be a very important com-mander of Taliban. -Online
India callrates end
lowerMUMBAI: Indian cash ratesended lower Tuesday, takingcomfort from the central bank'sannouncement of cash supportmeasures late on Monday.
The one-day inter-bank cashrate ended at 6.55/6.60 percent, down from Monday'sclose of 6.70/6.75 per cent aftertrading in 6.50-6.90 per centband during the day.
Banks borrowed a combinedbillion rupees from the RBI'stwin repo auctions on Tuesday,compared with 827.7 billionrupees on Monday.
Liquidity also improvedslightly on government spend-ing through salaries as is typi-cal at the end of every month,dealers said. "These measureswill prevent the call rate fromrising sharply, even when wewill have the advance tax
See # 5 Page 11
COLOMBO: President Asif Ali Zardari is seen off at the Bandranaike International Airport Colobo by Prime
Minister of Sri Lanka DM Jayarne, on the conclusion of 4 days visit to Sri Lanka. -APP
KARACHI: Pakistan has topped theranking in the microfinance regula-tory framework category released bythe Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU), a business information arm ofthe Economist Group - the publisherof the world renowned magazine,The Economist.
The EIU Report provides annual
ranking and in-depth analysis of themicrofinance business environmentin 54 countries.
It evaluated the countries on threedistinct microfinance criteria: (1) theregulatory framework, includingofficial legal recognition, interestrate restrictions, market distortions,capital requirements and regulatory
capacity; (2) the general investmentclimate for microfinance providers,especially accounting standards,governance tendencies and trans-parency requirements; and (3) thelevel of microfinance institutionaldevelopment, as measured by mar-ket concentration, the range of
See # 2 Page 11
Pak tops regulatory rankingMicrofinance Framework
COLOMBO: President Asif AliZardari on Tuesday visited BrandixLanka - the largest exporter ofapparel in Sri Lanka engaged indeveloping, manufacturing and mar-keting end-to-end apparel solutionsfor global fashion superbrands.
The company specialises in casu-als and active wear, woven and knit-ted fabrics and a host of apparelindustry accessories.
The President evinced keen inter-est in the different processesinvolved in the research and devel-opment, design, manufacture andmarketing of the apparel world wide.
He said Pakistani textile industrycan benefit from the experiences ofthe company and improve theirreach in the international market.
Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi, Defence MinisterChaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar,Chairman Board of Investment(BOI) Saleem Mandviwala and othermembers of his entourage accompa-nied the President.
Meanwhile, the spokesman to thePakistan Presidency has issuedMonday a detailed statement on theZardari's visit to Sri Lanka.
According to the statement,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreedto promote their bilateral relations tonews peaks in various areas of mutu-al interests during the visit ofPresident Asif Ali Zardari to SriLanka.
During the visit, the President ofPakistan was received by thePresident of Sri Lanka, who hosted abanquet in his honour. The two lead-ers held official talks. The officialdiscussions between the two sideswere marked by friendship, mutualrespect and understanding.
The President of Sri Lanka and thePresident of Pakistan agreed that thecivilizational heritage of Sri Lankaand of Pakistan provided the founda-tion to build a vibrant and multi-faceted partnership.
Sri Lanka - Pakistan relations havematured and diversified with thepassage of time, encompassing keyareas of contemporary relevance.
In keeping with their vision of thefuture of Sri Lanka - Pakistan rela-tions, the two leaders agreed thatthere is much scope to increasecooperation and to further harnessthe enormous potential available forconsolidating and strengthening thebilateral partnership by building on
shared values, leveraging commonconcerns and interests, enhancingconnectivity between the two coun-tries, increasing the synergies oftheir economies and, reinforcing theinstitutional framework for coopera-tion.
Both leaders agreed on the needfor an increase in the frequency ofhigh-level visits between Sri Lankaand Pakistan, including at theSummit level and at the level of theParliaments, especially based onParliamentary FriendshipAssociations established in each ofthe national Parliaments.
The two leaders witnessed thesigning of the Visa AbolitionAgreement for holders ofDiplomatic and Official Passports,Memorandum of Understanding onAgricultural Cooperation,Agreement on Cooperation andMutual Administrative Assistance inCustoms Matters and Agreement onCo-operation in the field of Arts &Creative Studies between theNational College of Arts of Pakistanand the University of Visual andPerforming Arts of Sri Lanka.
The President of Pakistan See # 1 Page 11
Zardari ends Lankatour on high note
President visits Sri Lanka's largest apparel manufacturer
RAWALPINDI: Judge Syed NajmulHassan Najam of Accountability Court(AC) Rawalpindi has once again issuedsummons to six foreign accused inCotecna Reference besides directing DGoperation NAB to ensure compliance ofthe summon and inform the court on next
hearing.Judge Syed Najmul Hassan Najam heard
the reference Tuesday.Additional Prosecutor General NAB
Akbar Ali Tarar told the court reports offoreign ministry, law ministry and NAB
