KSE-100 Index Crossed Much Awaited Level Of 10,000 Points

Bullish trend continued in the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday and the KSE index reached the much awaited level of 10,000 points during its last trading session of the week.
The KSE-100 index closed at 10,025 after gaining 146 points towards the end of the session as healthy buying spurred the index to breach the psychological level of 10,000 points after 19 months.
Trading began on a positive note, though volumes were still relatively low as only 181 million shares were traded today. Foreign investors have been quite active at the bourse, while some local pickings also helped the market’s cause. The twin blast in Lahore did damage the sentiment of the investors.

Pakistan And India Agree On Cotton Trade

KARACHI PAKISTAN: Cotton Association of India (CAI) and Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) have reached an agreement to abolish all existing barriers in way of cotton trade between two neighbours.

President CAI Dheran N Seth visited KCA here on Saturday wherein he called on President KCA Sohail Naseem.

During the sitting, the heads of two cotton associations resolved to mutually resolve disputed issues instead of taking them up before International Cotton Advisory (ICA).

The meeting also decided to hold visits of members cotton associations from two sides on regular basis.

SBP Provides Rs 60.05 Billion To Commercial Banks

The State Bank of Pakistan has provided Rs 60.05 billion to the commercial banks to inject liquidity into the Money Market.
The central bank had received offers of Rs 102.70 billion for re-buying T-bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs). The bank accepted offers of Rs 60.05 billion. The central bank bought back PIBs and T-bills under 7-day reverse-repo at interest rate of 12.04 percent.

NEPRA Approves Raise Of Power Tariff By Rs 0.14

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has given approval to Atlas Power Company for raising electricity tariff by Rs 0.14.
According to notification issued by NEPRA, 10 percent increase in tariff has been done in accordance with fuel adjustment formula. The new price of Rs 9 per unit would be effective from February.

Asia Stocks Mixed As China Tightening Fears Linger

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were mixed Friday as investors held out for additional clues to the strength of economic recovery.

Most markets were little changed, a recent pattern that analysts say reflects uncertainty surrounding the U.S. rebound, China’s policies and debt troubles in Europe.

Many investors are awaiting further insight into the state of the U.S. economy. Reports due out Friday on retail sales and consumer sentiment could shed light on the current spending appetites of Americans at a time of high unemployment.

The sideways trade comes after global markets were mostly higher the day before, with gains limited amid wariness after China may start raising interest rates to keep a lid on mounting inflationary pressures. The source of concerns was a report showing inflation in the fast-growing economy jumped last month.

In Japan, Nikkei 225 stock average was up 87.05 points, or 0.8 percent, to 10,752.00.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 0.1 percent at 21,211.36 and South Korea’s benchmark was flat at 1,656.74.

Shanghai’s market was also little changed, while Australia inched up 0.1 percent and India rose 0.3 percent.

Oil prices drifted higher as investors mulled whether extending a monthlong rally is justified amid evidence of weak U.S. crude demand. Benchmark crude for April delivery added 8 cents to $82.19 after rising 2 cents overnight.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 90.62 yen from 90.50 yen. The euro was stronger at $1.3694 compare $1.3678.

In the U.S. Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.51, or 0.4 percent, to 10,611.84.

The S&P 500 index advanced 4.63, or 0.4 percent, to 1,150.24, above its Jan. 19 close of 1,150.23. The index now stands at its highest level since Oct. 1, 2008.

Bullish Trend Continues At KSE

Bullish trend was witnessed at Karachi Stock Market as the benchmark index closed above 9,800 points level on Thursday.
The business activity started with positive note and better financial results and foreign buying pushed the index above 9,900 points level. However, profit-taking caused downfall and the index closed at 9,879 points at the end of the day. The business volume remained 20 crore shares.

Sui Northern Suffers Huge Gas Transmission Losses

Sui Northern Company has borne around 25billion cubic feet gas transmission losses during the current fiscal year.
Company sources said that Rs7.30 billion loss has been incurred in gas sale owing to the transmission losses, which resulted into the Rs270million loss to the company.
They added that the company bore millions of rupees loss despite 18percent rise in gas tariff. The said company has asked OGRA to raise the gas tariff by 20.36 paisas per million cubic feet from July 1st.

Oil Slips From $82

SINGAPORE: Oil prices fell below $82 a barrel Thursday in Asia as traders eyed tepid U.S. crude demand amid an overall economic expansion.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 51 cents to $81.58 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 60 cents to settle at $82.09 on Wednesday.

Crude prices have hovered in the low $80s this week — after jumping from $69 early last month — on investor optimism that sluggish U.S. oil demand will eventually reflect a growing global economy.

U.S. data for last week was mixed. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude inventories grew while gasoline and distillate supplies fell.

Some analysts are concerned economic growth in developed countries may slow in the second half as massive government stimulus spending peters out, making commodity demand even more dependent on growth in emerging markets such as China and India.

“We have actually become more worried about the outlook for the global economy,” London-based Capital Economics said in a report. “The boost from policy stimulus will soon fade. The recovery looks fragile in the U.K. and may already have stalled in the euro-zone.”

Capital Economics said it expects an oil price of $60 a barrel at the end of this year and the end of 2011.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 0.77 cent to $2.1085 a gallon, and gasoline dropped 1.41 cents to $2.271 a gallon. Natural gas was almost unchanged at $4.557 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was down 52 cents at $79.96 on the ICE futures exchange.

Remittances Rise Over 17Pc To $5.79bn

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis continued to show a rising trend as an amount of $5,786.89 million was received in the first eight months (July?February) of the current fiscal year 2009?10, showing an increase of $868.26 million or 17.65 percent over the same period of the last fiscal year. The amount of $5,786.89 million includes $1.0 million received through encashment and profit earned on Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates (FEBCs) and Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates (FCBCs).
In February 2010, an amount of $588.78 million was sent home by overseas Pakistanis, compared with $641.32 million in the same month last year.
The inflow of remittances in the July-February, 2010 period from UAE, USA, Saudi Arabia, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), UK and EU countries amounted to $1,317.17 million, $1,173.37 million, $1,148.86 million, $826.93 million, $596.26 million and $171.41 million respectively as compared to $1,035.55 million, $1,156.51 million, $962.30 million, $783.39 million, $344.08 million and $150.05 million respectively in the July?February, 2009 period. Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the first eight months of the current fiscal year amounted to $550.65 million as against $486.34 million in the same period last year.
The monthly average remittances for the July?February 2010 period comes out to $723.36 million as compared to $614.83 million during the same corresponding period of the last fiscal year, registering an increase of 17.65 percent.
During last month i.e. February 2010 remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), UK and EU countries amounted to $149.45 million, $136.88 million, $111.48 million, $89.21 million, $45.91 million and $13.48 million respectively as compared to $123.64 million, $166.62 million, $127.48 million, $93.09 million, $54.12 million and $18.31 million in February 2009. Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during February 2010 amounted to $41.13 million compared with $58.04 million in the same month last year.

Oil Slips Before US Energy Report

SINGAPORE: Oil prices hovered above $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed mixed evidence about U.S. crude demand.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 5 cents to $81.54 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 38 cents to settle at $81.49 on Tuesday.

Oil has jumped about 17 percent since early last month on increased investor confidence in this year’s global economic growth. But crude demand from the U.S., the world’s largest consumer of oil, has remained sluggish.

Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

However, inventories of gasoline and distillates fell more than analysts expected, the API said.

The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration is scheduled to announce its supply report later Wednesday.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 0.44 cent to $2.0942 a gallon, and gasoline gained 0.83 cent to $2.2686 a gallon. Natural gas was down 1.1 cents at $4.505 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was up 9 cents at $80.00 on the ICE futures exchange.

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