Tuesday, 4 December, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE decline in thecement exports toIndia continuesunabated wherethe uptake of Pak-

istani cement reduced by 38.50percent during the first fivemonths of the current fiscalyear, 2012-2013. During July-Nov 2011 last year, Pakistan ex-ported 298,214 tons of cementto India which reduced to183,387 tons this year.Although cement sector posteda healthy export growth of 11.71 percent in November2012,India was the only exporting destination where exportsdeclined in November as well.Pakistan exported 45,096 tonsof cement to India in November 2011 which declined alarm-ingly to only 25,207 tons in November 2012. The cement sec-tor of Pakistan otherwise showed healthy growth in the monthof November, as for the first time this fiscal, both domesticconsumption and cement exports posted double digit growth,on year to year basis. Total cement dispatches at 2.649 milliontons during the month of November were, however, lowerthan dispatch of 2.766 million tons, a month earlier. However,when compared to November 2011 when the total cement dis-patches were 2.255 million tons, the sales in the month of No-vember 2012 were higher by 19.63%. Traditionally, cementdispatches in October are higher than in November. The mar-ket analysts term the current domestic market situation en-couraging as during past five months of this fiscal, the localconsumption has increased in four months and declined onlyin August by 3.41 percent. The local uptake of the commodityincreased in two months out of five during this fiscal by over19 percent. The first time it posted over 19 percent growth wasin September 2012 and the second time in November 2012.The overall growth in local dispatches during the first 5months of this fiscal was 6.78 percent. The cement exportsfrom South zone during July-Nov 2011 were 0.986 milliontons that declined in July-Nov 2012 to 0.837 million tons de-picting an overall reduction of 15.06 percent. The cement ex-ports from North zone declined nominally by 0.64 percentduring this period to 2.804 million tons from 2.823 milliontons in the first five months of this fiscal.

Cement conjuresdouble digits athome; exportsto India dip

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Pakistan and Austria have decided to expandexisting bilateral trade and investment rela-tions. The delegation of both countries heldbilateral political consultations in Vienna.

The Pakistan delegation was led by Ms.Ayesha Riyaz, Additional Secretary (Eu-rope & FoDP), Ministry of Foreign Affairswhile the Austrian Delegation was led byMs. Gabriele Meon-Tschurtz, Head of theAsia Division at the Austrian Ministry forEuropean & International Affairs. Thefriendly relations between Pakistan andAustria span over more than five decades.Austria, a member of both the EU and theOECD, is an economically developed West-ern-European nation, hosting the third-largest UN Headquarters in Vienna.Diplomatic relations between Pakistan andAustria were established in 1956. Eversince then both the countries have been en-

joying cordial relations.During the Bilateral Consultations, the

two sides took stock of the current status ofbilateral relations including political ties,

economic cooperation, trade and invest-ment, collaboration in the field of educa-tion and science & technology, and culturaland parliamentary exchanges. Both sides

emphasised the need to enhance higherlevel political contacts, including parlia-mentary exchanges, to further intensify theexisting bilateral relations.

They noted that there has been asteady growth in the bilateral trade volumeover the past years, and agreed to under-take suitable measure to sustain this posi-tive trend. The two sides also agreed toconvene the 5th session of the Pakistan-Austria Joint Working Group on Trade andEconomic Cooperation at an early date.

The Additional Secretary briefedthe Austrian side in detail on the in-vestment opportunities in the country.Both the sides noted with satisfactionthat OMV, an Austrian oil and gas com-pany, has one of its largest overseas in-vestments in Pakistan. They agreed tostrengthen interaction between theirrespective business communities tofurther expand the existing trade andinvestment relations.

The two sides exchanged views on re-gional and international issues of mutualinterest including the situation inAfghanistan and counterterrorism.

Fiscal bonding in Vienna

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Securities and Exchange Commis-sion of Pakistan (SECP) has noti-fied draft of accounting rules andregulations for the Life and non-Life Insurance companies.

The drafted revised AccountingFormats and regulations for pub-lished financial statements andregulatory returns by insuranceentities have been notified in theofficial gazette ofPakistan to elicitpublic and stakeholders com-ments.

By issuing these accountingformats and regulations, the SECP,as the apex regulator, aimed toprotect the interests of policyhold-ers and promote the sound devel-

opment of the insuranceindustry.

The existing SEC[Insurance] Rules2002, annexedwith it were the Ac-counting Regula-tions & its Formatswere introduced bythe SECP in 2002. Sincethe issuance of these rules,almost a decade ago, therehave been remarkable develop-ments and changes in the Interna-tional Reporting Standards(IFRSs) by International Account-ing Standards Board.

Accordingly, at the behest of theSECP, the Institute of CharteredAccountants of Pakistan (ICAP) re-constituted the Insurance Sub-

Committee. The Commit-tee comprised of indus-

try experts, seniorpartners of char-tered accountantfirms, and repre-sentatives from theInsurance Division

of the SECP and tech-nical experts from the

ICAP. The mandate givenby the Commission was to

review the current accounting reg-ulations and formats in respect ofconventional Life and Non-life In-surers by taking into considerationthe International Standards.

The Committee was also toaddress the concerns of the indus-try in relation to IFRS 4. The un-derlying objective of IFRS 4 was

to achieve global harmonizationof the diverse accounting disclo-sures and practices in the insur-ance industry. After in-depthdeliberations, the SECP notifiedthe draft rules and regulation for-mat for public consultation. Onlythose comments and suggestionsshall be considered and incorpo-rated which are found viable andin the spirit of law thereafter thefinal rules and regulations shallbe announced.

It is envisaged that the revisedset of accounting rules and regula-tions shall bring in more trans-parency, establish enhanceddisclosures requirements thatwould be useful in decision-mak-ing by present and potential poli-cyholders, investors, lenders, etc.

Fahim talks up

potential trade

numbers with Korea ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Senior Federal Minister forCommerce Makhdoom Amin Fahimsaid that volume of trade betweenPakistan and Korea needs significantincrease. In a statement prior toleaving for three days visit to Koreahe cited that current visit wouldstrengthen business and commercialinteraction between the public andprivate sector of both countries. Hefurther said the businesscommunities of both the countiesneed to be sensitized about theavailable business opportunities. Healso said both countries shouldorganize regular trade exhibition ofpotential products which wouldexplore trade options between twocountries. While telling aboutcurrent trade between two countriesthe Federal Minister said thatPakistan – Korea volume of trade,which was in the region ofUS $ 845.18 million in the year2006-07 reached all time high witheffort of current governmentamounting to US$1.189 billionshowing anincrease of40%. He alsomentionedthat Pakistanexportsregistered 17%increase in2011-12 ascompared to2006-07.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in thecountry during the month of November wasrecorded further downward at the lowest level ofits revised based at 6.9 percent as against 7.7percent in October.

“The number is far below the market consen-sus which was expecting it in the range of 7.5-8percent,” said Topline analyst Nauman Khan.

On MoM basis, inflation stood at –ve 0.4 per-cent as against 0.4 percent last month, while theaverage inflation in 5MFY13 stood at 8.4 percent

versus 10.2 percent in thesame period lastyear.

“Though, we still await how individual headscontributed to subdued number but we believesubdued food inflation would be the chief con-tributor on account of post Eid phenomena,”said Khan.

The soft inflation number heightened thechance of average FY13 inflation to fall wellbelow the government expectation of 9.5 per-cent, even after incorporating in high MoM in-flation in 2H. “We maintain our view that softinflation numbers could allow the room for thecentral bank to continue the process of monetaryeasing and we expect another 50-100bps cut inthe policy rate in the upcoming monetary policyschedule due in second week of December,” saidthe analyst. He said his conviction to the ideaalso comes from the central bank’s recent focuson growth dynamics which was also highlightedin the recent SBP governor’s interview.

SECP notifies draft regulationsfor insurance firms

Rate-cut of 50-100bps likely

as inflation dips to 6.9%

Pakistan, Austria agree to boost bilateral relations

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02

Tuesday, 4 December, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPAny OPEn HIgH LOw CLOSE CHAngE TuRnOvERIsland Textile 951.18 998.73 998.73 998.73 47.55 200Sanofi-Aventis Pak 366.03 375.00 375.00 375.00 8.97 100Exide (PAK) 313.00 319.74 315.00 319.74 6.74 3,000Fazal Cloth MillXDXB130.16 136.66 136.66 136.66 6.50 1,500Gadoon Textile 110.77 116.30 114.05 116.30 5.53 73,500

Major LosersNestle Pakistan Ltd. 4655.00 4655.00 4423.00 4423.00 -232.00 100UniLever Pak 10159.54 10000.00 9800.00 9995.96 -163.58 6,480Bata (Pak) 1722.00 1725.00 1660.00 1660.00 -62.00 350National Foods 298.00 296.90 287.00 291.01 -6.99 300Blessed Tex. 123.00 124.00 116.85 116.85 -6.15 4,500

Volume Leaders

Sui North Gas 24.16 25.15 23.98 24.13 -0.03 16,008,000Bank Al-Falah 16.74 17.35 16.61 16.81 0.07 14,642,500Fauji Cement 6.95 7.09 6.87 6.91 -0.04 13,012,000Jah.Sidd. Co. 17.23 17.88 17.15 17.56 0.33 12,054,500National Bank Pak 49.86 50.70 48.90 49.08 -0.78 8,265,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 96.5473UK Pound 155.0163Japanese Yen 1.1760Euro 125.8494

Dollar EastBuy SELL

US Dollar 96.90 97.40Euro 124.89 126.82Great Britain Pound 153.84 156.18Japanese Yen 1.1574 1.1750Canadian Dollar 95.83 97.79Hong Kong Dollar 12.21 12.46UAE Dirham 26.08 26.45Saudi Riyal 25.58 25.90Australian Dollar 99.24 102.20

Business

HONG KONG

AGENCIES

ASIAN markets climbed on Mon-day after data showed Chinesemanufacturing activity hadpicked up pace in November,while increased global confidence

provided support for the euro.Tokyo rose 0.66 percent by the break, Hong

Kong was 0.10 percent higher, Sydney added0.59 percent and Seoul climbed 0.23 percentwhile Shanghai was flat.

Beijing said Saturday that factory activitygrew for the second month in a row in Novem-ber, the latest figures showing the world’s num-ber two economy is emerging from its recentslowdown. The country’s official purchasingmanagers’ index (PMI) reached 50.6, up from50.2 in October and 49.8 in September and thehighest since hitting 53.3 in April. Anythingabove 50 indicates expansion.

In a separate survey, HSBC said its PMI hita 13-month high of 50.5 in November from 49.5in October. Chinese manufacturing has been hitby weaker demand in Europe and the UnitedStates, with economic growth hitting a morethan three-year low of 7.4 percent in the July-September quarter.

A more upbeat outlook for China filteredthrough to currency markets, where the eurocontinued its recent rise. The single currencygained to $1.3040 and 107.42 yen in early trade,from $1.2982 and 107.07 yen in New York lateFriday. The dollar eased to 82.37 yen from82.48 yen in US trade.

The yen has weakened over the past fewweeks as investors expect a win in December 16polls for Shinzo Abe, the opposition leader whohas pledged to carry out more aggressive mon-etary easing measures to kickstart Japan’s limp

economy. However, there are worries over thelack of progress US lawmakers are making inagreeing a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff of taxhikes and spending cuts due to come into effecton January 1 and which could tip the economyinto recession. Republican House Speaker JohnBoehner told the Fox News Sunday TV showthat talks were going “nowhere”.

He said he was “flabbergasted” when Treas-ury Secretary Timothy Geithner, PresidentBarack Obama’s pointman for the talks, pre-sented the White House’s proposal, which in-cluded huge tax increases for the rich.

“I looked (at) him and said, ‘You can’t be se-rious,’” Boehner recounted, saying three of theseven weeks available had “been wasted withthis nonsense”.

Qatar Airways Facebook contest

DOHA: Qatar Airways’ innovative Dream Makercontest for Facebook fans giving them a chance tobe the first to fly on its maiden Boeing 787Dreamliner to London Heathrow next month, isgathering momentum with just one day left toparticipate. This fabulous online competition,launched to celebrate the recent delivery of theairline’s first Dreamliner, will enable two luckycontestants to win a dream holiday to the UK witha pair of tickets each, including two night’saccommodation in London. Entrants must be overthe age of 18, and the criteria to enter is to simply“like” the airline’s Facebook page and answer a setof questions regarding the 787 related videos onthe site. The contest closes at midnight tomorrowDecember 3. Qatar Airways has also launched adedicated website revealing features and storiesabout the airline’s latest aircraft. The newdedicated site www.qatarairways.com/787provides an experiential journey into the airline’saward-winning product. The story is told througha series of interactive video vignettes which can beviewed and shared across all social media.

Etihad Airways increasesflights in PakistanKARACHI: Etihad Airways, the national airline ofthe United Arab Emirates, is boosting its services toPakistan between January 2 and March 27 2013.Starting from January, the airline will operate fouradditional services to the northern city of Lahore,increasing the number of services from seven to 11 aweek and offering passengers more convenienttravel options. With the addition of the new services,Etihad Airways will now offer 27 weekly flights fromfour destinations in Pakistan, which along withLahore include Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar.

Revolutionary PRP technique

KARACHI: To cater to the ever increasing interestof the public in non-surgical methods of youthmaintenance and rejuvenation, a live demonstrationof the revolutionary PRP technique, was conductedby Dr.Tania Shaikh, at Dr.Afzaal Lodhi & Associates.A large number of people from all ages and walks oflife attended the event, where they were not only ableto witness the procedure being carried out in front ofthem, but also share their views on the technique,with representatives of the print and electronicmedia who were covering the event. A demonstrationof such a newly introduced cosmetic technique inPakistan is a fresh approach and was highlyappreciated by all the attendees, as it not only addedto their knowledge but also allowed them to interactwith the doctor and patient to get their views on thedetails of this ground-breaking procedure. The PRPor Platelet Rich Plasma is a non-invasive anti-agingtechnique that utilizes several different growthfactors and hormones extracted from a patients ownblood plasma to stimulate the repair andregeneration of skin and collagen.

Teradata inaugural invitationalgolf championshipKARACHI: Teradata (NYSE:TDC), the leadinganalytic data solutions company, held its firstTeradata Invitational Golf Championship atDefence Authority Country and Golf Club Karachi.Around 71 golfers from the financial sector ofPakistan participated in the event which wasfollowed by a prize distribution ceremony. The netwinner was Jamil Iqbal (HBL) and the net runnerup was Col. (R) Omar J. Qureshi. Where as thegross winner position was taken by Brig. HassanRafi (R) and Lt (Col) Hussain Ali (R) took thegross runner up. Longest drive was won by BilalNasim (Bank Al Habib), nearest to the pin went toAtif Jamali (Citibank). The Ladies’ Net Winnerwent to Tahira Raza (NBP).

PIA bars certified airlineKARACHI: Flight Safety Foundation a renownedInternational body for promotion of AviationSafety has awarded Pakistan International Airline,Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Certificationfor maintaining safety standards. MuhammadJunaid Yunus MD-PIA resolved that the NationalFlag Carrier give top priority to Safety Standardsand Training of its Pilots, Cabin Crew andEmployees to manage the aircraft and thepassengers safely in abnormal situations. “We arecommitted to excellence in service”.

Mobilink contributes Rs 3m forOPD facility at SKMCH

LAHORE: Mobilink Foundation has contributedPKR 3 million towards the construction of an out-patient facility at the under-construction ShaukatKhanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and ResearchCenter (SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar, KhyberPukhtunkhwa. A cheque for this contribution waspresented by Tariq Durrani, Regional Director(Sales), Mobilink to Dr Faisal Sultan, CEOSKMCH&RC at a ceremony organized inSKMCH&RC Lahore. Since the commencement ofSKMCH&RC’s first facility in Lahore, nearly 40,000patients have visited the facility from the provinceof KPK. The need for a facility in the province isfurther amplified by the existing lack of access todiagnosis and treatment. The contribution byMobilink Foundation is intended to assist SKMH’sefforts to provide state-of-the-art facilities to thepeople of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK).Constructionon the project has started in March 2011 and isexpected to be completed within 3 years.

CORPORATE CORNER

Asian marketsboosted by Chinamanufacturing data

RAWALPINDI: Hashoo Foundation and City & Guild’s UK staff group photo at the launching ceremony of Accreditation of HashooFoundation Vocational Qualifications in hospitality services, at Pearl Continental Hotel.

KARACHI: CEO Shafqat Sultana ,Majeed Aziz Begum Salma,Mirza Ishtiyaq baig 23rd Celebration of women bank the Cakecatting at local hotel.

Oil prices up

in Asia on Middle

East fearsSINGAPORE

AGENCIES

Crude prices rose in Asia Monday afterUN chief Ban Ki Moon warned thatIsrael’s new resettlement plans woulddeal an “almost fatal blow” to anyprospects for peace with Palestinians,analysts said. Israel’s move is likely toheighten geopolitical tensions in thecrude-producing Middle East. NewYork’s main contract, light sweet crudefor delivery in January, gained 11 cents to$89.02 a barrel and Brent North Seacrude for January delivery added 15cents to $111.38. “The market continuedto balance risks to demand from the USbudget standoff against concerns aboutdisruption to Middle East supplies,”Phillip Futures said in a report. Crudehad been weighed over the past week byconcerns over increasingly difficultdeficit negotiations in Washington on thelooming US fiscal cliff, which could seethe world’s largest economy tip intorecession next year. But Israel’sannouncement on the new settler homesin the West Bank and East Jerusalem aday after a UN vote recognised Palestineas a non-member state of the world bodyfuelled concerns about the Middle East.Israel had also on Sunday said it will nottransfer tax and tariff funds it collects forthe Palestinians this month, ratchetingtensions up another notch.

SBP moves to revive SMEs, agri activities in flood-hit areas

KARACHI: The central bank has extended the expiry date of the Refinance Scheme for Revival of SMEs and agri-cultural activities in the flood-affected areas by one year. According to a circular issued Monday by the State Bankof Pakistan, the refinance limits already sanctioned in favor of selected banks under this scheme would also con-tinue to be available up to Nov 30, 2013. The banks and the Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) can alsoapply for enhancement of limits after utilization of their existing limits. Further, other interested banks and DFIs,having branches in flood affected areas, might also apply to IH&SME Finance Department of SBP for sanctioningof fresh limits under the scheme separately for agriculture and SMEs. STAFF REPORT

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