Aug
30
England defeated South Africa by 126 runs in the third one-day cricket match at the oval, to take an unassailable lead of 3-nil in the five match series.
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Batting first, England made 296 for 7 from 50 overs. Andrew Flintoff hit 78 not-out while Ian Bell scored 73 runs. South Africa were never up with the rate as they were bowled out for 170 in 42.4 overs with Patel taking 5 for 41 to cap a memorable match.
Aug
30
Stocks at the Karachi share bazaar slid a further 2.4 per cent on Friday, recording a sharp plunge of 30 per cent in equity values over the eight months since January this year.
The KSE-100 index clinging to four figures of 9,994 points just four months down the road from its record high at 15,750 on April 18, looked especially gory.
Many stock brokers shook their heads when asked if they were on the sell side. But foreign investors were clearly the panic prone herd.
“Net foreign selling since January stands at $350 million with sell orders flying across trading rooms of brokerages aggregating to a huge $20 million in the past two days”, says Mohammad Sohail at JS Capital.
The sinking value of the rupee which hit the pit at Rs77.15 to a dollar on Friday, weak economic numbers including depletion in foreign exchange reserves and the political wrangling among coalition partners were believed to have prompted Moody’s to issue a note of caution on Wednesday, which foreign funds took as a signal to take to a flight.
Foreigners who had entered the equity market in droves to grab advantage of the previous seven years of the country’s outperformance as one of the best markets in the world, still hold $3 billion worth of stocks and 25 per cent of the free float.
But over the past four months, value of Pakistani equity market has sunk to $41 billion, from $75 billion, reflecting a loss of $34 billion. Converted at the current currency value that worked out to a drain of staggering Rs2.6 trillion! Market capitalisation at close of trading on Friday stood at Rs3.1 trillion.
Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman and MD of NIT, the country’s largest mutual fund and the manager of the recently constituted “Equity Market Opportunity Fund” of the size of Rs20 billion says, he never sells in a falling market.
He reiterated that the Opportunity Fund had been created to capture value buying for its contributors, which in turn could stabilise the market. He said that the ‘concept paper’ of the Opportunity Fund clearly laid down that approvals had to be sought from the federal government and the SECP and that the Fund could sell “only if it is satisfied that such sale would not in any manner destabilise the market and that it is not detrimental to the basic objective of never acting against public interest”.
Nadeem Naqvi, who recently stepped down as the CEO of AKD Securities to venture into more challenging tasks, asks for a look at the global picture. “Stock markets”, he says “are taking the blow everywhere because both the US and Europe are experiencing sharp economic slowdown; Japan posted negative GDP growth in the last quarter and Indian economy growth has slid from 9 to 7 per cent”.
China is expected to face a meltdown after the glowing economics of Olympics are over. “Due to the global slowdown, inflation is rising and interest rates are likely to edge higher in the future, pushing down asset values including that of stocks all across the world”, says Nadeem.
But for the KSE, he has something cheerful to say. “Historically over the 10 to 15 years, the Pakistani stocks have traded at the forward price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of 8.5 to 9 times and the equities are now down to a multiple of 6.7 times, which means the downside is limited”.
He, however, adds that the upside too is capped at the index level of 11,000 points, given the political uncertainty, high interest rates, economic worries and the erosion in the value of rupee”.
Several market pundits agreed that the KSE might continue to trade in the range of 9,000 to 11,000 points until the winter this year.
Aug
30
Prices stay firm on cotton market
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Cotton prices on Friday remained stable at the previous levels amid an actively traded session for third session in a row as spinners are not inclined to take even a technical breather.
The interesting feature was that spinners major buying thrust was again on the central Sindh lint owing to its better quality, while its Punjab counterpart was available at slightly lower rates, floor brokers said.
Some of the Punjab types were traded as lower as Rs4,075 but Sindh variety was not available below Rs4,125, sustaining a premium over its Punjab counterpart, they said.
They said price differential of Rs75 per maund between the two reflects very badly on the central Punjab lint, which in normal seasons is sold at a premium over the former.
Cotton analysts failed to pinpoint the reasons behind this phenomenon but some others said late rain and the current pest attack in the entire cotton belt may have damaged its fibre content.
Meanwhile, reports trickling in from the cotton belt indicate that second picking of phutti in the early growing areas is well in progress and should have pushed prices lower but strong mill support keep them on the higher side.
News from the export front were a bit bearish as local prices are higher than the foreign ones and that is perhaps why exporters are out of the market for the last couple of sessions.
Official spot rates were remained firm at the previous level of Rs4,125 per maund and bulk of the ready business was done around them.
New York cotton futures, on the other hand, failed to sustain the overnight run-up as both the contracts fell by 1.29 and 1.27 cents per lb at 67.16 and 69.36 for the ruling October and the distant December.
Mill intake was on the higher side as another 20,000 bales changed hands as under:
SINDH TYPE: 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs4,125 to 4,150, 2,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs4,125 to 4,135, 1,000 bales, each Khipro, Hyderabad and Sanghar, 600 bales, Shahpur Chakkar,400 bales, each Jhoke and Nawabshah at Rs4,125,and 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,100 to 4,125.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales each, Chichawatni and Burewala at Rs4,100 to 4,125, 1,000 bales, Mian Channu, 400 bales, Gojra and 200 bales, Muridwala at Rs4,100, 600 bales, Pak Pattan, at Rs4,075 to 4,100, 600 bales and 400 bales, Bahawalnagar and Arifwala at 4,075.
Source
Aug
30
Hundreds of sick Gazans crossed into Egypt after Hamas and Egyptian authorities temporarily opened the Rafah crossing for the first time in weeks.
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Over 600 people left the blockaded Palestinian territory into Egypt through the crossing — the only one that bypasses Israel. The people allowed to cross include hundreds of Palestinians requiring treatement in Egyptian hospitals as well as Egyptian nationals and Palestinians holding Egyptian passports.
Aug
30
A senior Iranian military commander has warned that any U.S. or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic would start a new world war.
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Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, in a statement carried by the state news agency Irna said it is evident that if such a challenge occurs, the fake and artificial regimes will be eliminated before anything. The United States and its staunch ally Israel, accuse Iran of seeking atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme. Iran has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting its nuclear drive is aimed solely at providing electricity for a growing population when its reserves of fossil fuels run out. The united states has never ruled out military action against Iran over its defiance of international demands for an enrichment freeze, but so far is pursuing the diplomatic route with calls for more sanctions. Another top military commander said Iran was prepared to “take the enemies off-guard” and would unveil more weapons in case of an attack. Source
Aug
30
The government has announced to give 1.75 billion rupees subsidy on the items of daily use under its Ramazanul Mubarak package.
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Finance minister Naveed Qamar announced the package during a news briefing in Islamabad. He said that from the first of September, the prices of over 1300 items of daily use will be reduced by five to ten percent. He said under the package, the price of Atta will be 15 rupees per kilogram, Ghee 110 rupees, Sugar 33 rupees, Dal Channa 47 rupees, and Basmati Rice Rs 88 per kilogram at the utility stores across the country. The finance minister said the utility stores will remain open throughout the week during Ramazan-ul Mubarak.
He said mobile utility stores will operate in Balochistan and Sindh to provide relief to the people there. He said the government’s monitoring teams will keep strict watch to ensure that the prices remain stable during the holy month. The finance minister said the government is taking strict action to curb the smuggling of wheat flour and to ensure that these items are sold on uniform prices.
Aug
30
Four deposed judges of the Lahore high court were sworn in Lahore.
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The number of the judges of the Lahore high court has also been increased from fifty to sixty. Chief justice Lahore high court justice Syed Zahid Hussain administered the oath. Those who took oath are:
Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Azmat Saeed And justice Umer Atta Bandiyal Judges of the lahore high court and a large number of lawyers attended the oath taking ceremony.
Source
Aug
29
Tour De France quadruple-stage winner Mark Cavendish won the first stage of the tour of Ireland cycle race.
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The official start of the first stage was at Dundrum, about 10 kilometers from the centre of Dublin and the first serious breakaway came around 35 kilometers later. No-one could match Cavendish’s sprinting power at the end and he was followed across the line by New Zealander Julian Dean of Garmin Chipotle and Joker Bianchi’s Alexander Kristoff from Norway.
Cavendish finished the 192 kilometers stage in five hours and nine seconds.
The 2008 tour of Ireland is set to be the toughest yet, with five difficult stages over 900 kilometres from Dublin to cork.
Aug
29
Pakistan takes on South Korea in the semifinal of 14th junior Asian volleyball championship in Tehran today.
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In the quarter final round, Pakistan defeated strong teams like Australia and Japan.
Aug
29
Plan to slash PSDP by Rs100bn
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The government has decided to cut the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by Rs100 billion to contain fiscal deficit at 4.7 per cent level and allow a ‘hefty increase’ in electricity tariff to achieve macro-economic stability, says Minister for Finance and Privatisation Naveed Qamar.
“One of the most serious issues is our depleting foreign exchange reserves, which have come down to about $10 billion because of exchange rate pressure, and, therefore, urgently needed to be enhanced through more privatisation and by attracting new foreign inflows,” he said at a press conference in his parliament chambers here on Friday.
The government, he said, had decided to take a number of steps to contain the fiscal deficit target during 2007-08 and for this purpose “we will have to slow down the economic activity.”
He, however, said that oil prices, which had gone down to $112 a barrel after peaking $148 barrel in the international market and then again rose to nearly $120 a barrel, would not be brought down “unless the government achieves an equalization.”"We will pass on the benefit of reduced oil prices when the government starts buying and selling oil at the same price.”
He said all supplementary grants to the ministries and divisions had been stopped along with a directive to cut back on foreign tours and stop buying physical assets.
He said that funds would be withdrawn from development projects which do not have any economic impact.
Terming it unfortunate, he said that the government would have to slash its development budget from Rs550 billion to Rs450 billion to avoid piling up problems.
He said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was insisting on keeping fiscal deficit pegged at 4.3 per cent target, had been told that it was not possible, but it had been assured that the deficit would not exceed 4.7 per cent target which had been fixed in the budget.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is believed to have recommended a 61 per cent increase in electricity tariff, which the government was anxious to pass on to consumers.
Without hinting about the exact amount of the power tariff increase, the finance minister said: “It will be a fairly hefty increase to help remove Wapda’s growing financial difficulties.”
He said that Wapda needed to make payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which had threatened to shut down their plants because of non-payment.
He said the government could not offer sovereign guarantees to the IPPs but that they would be made their due payments by allowing Wapda to go for substantial power increases.
“Pakistan has to survive as a normal country. It also favours the IPPs.”
He said that all government subsidies, including on oil and electricity, would be eliminated by June 2009, and consumers would have to share the burden of increase in prices of all commodities.
“Wapda’s circular debt is increasing, which will have to be cut by allowing the increase in electricity charges.”
The finance minister said that Wapda and Pepco had been ordered to eliminate line losses.
The minister said that the government had decided to control expenditure by reducing unnecessary borrowing from the State Bank, which had earlier tightened its monetary policy.
Instead, he said, the government would borrow from the National Savings Directorate and a target of Rs150 billion had been set which would be achieved by launching new schemes.
Mr Qamar also said that the government would impose more taxes on import of luxury goods and non-essential items, adding that the rate of duty on such items would be increased from 35 per cent shortly after the federal cabinet’s approval.
He said the government would launch a new commercial instrument to mop up Rs300 billion deposits of ministries and other public sector corporations, adding that they had been ordered to withdraw their funds from various savings accounts which would be used for launching the instrument.
Initially, he said, that Rs40 billion would be used for launching the instrument next month.
He said the cabinet was considering approving a five-day work week.
Referring to petroleum export, he said, the export of oil to Afghanistan would be controlled by imposing a regulatory duty on subsidised petroleum products.
“Oil is being bought at a subsidised rate and then exported to Afghanistan and in the process, people are earning considerable profits. This practice will be discouraged by imposing a regulatory duty,” he added.
He, however, clarified that the regulatory duty would only be applied on the subsidy for oil export.
The finance minister also said that the government had worked out a plan for privatisation which would be unveiled on Tuesday next and is aimed at achieving over $2 billion.
“The government will raise Rs52 billion from the privatisation other than big ticketing items.”
He said there would be more foreign inflows, including $26 million coming from privatisation of the PTCL and $750-800 million through the launching of a new bond scheme.
“These new bonds will be securitised against workers’ remittances,” the finance minister said.
He said that the CNG prices are expected to be fixed at Rs49 a kilogramme for which OGRA is finalising details.
In reply to a question, he said that the government was in touch with the government of Saudi Arabia to import 120,000 barrels of oil on deferred payment.
He, however, said that unless the issue was finalised, he could not reveal the cost in dollar terms.
He also disclosed that the US and Canada had offered to give wheat on deferred payment.
“All subsequent wheat imports will be made on deferred payment and this will be in addition to the wheat to be received from the US under the PL-480 programme.”
He said that the IMF had issued a ‘letter of comfort’ on the basis of which the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank would soon start disbursing funds to Pakistan.
But he made it clear that the government did not seek any new IMF programme.
Source