KSE 100-share index recomposed: Dawn

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited has recomposed KSE 100-Index, effective from April 1, 2010.

According to KSE 11 companies, namely Security Papers Ltd, Pakistan Cables, TRG Pakistan, Murree Brewery Company, PEL, Grays of Cambridge, Shifa International, PACE Pakistan, NetSol Technologies, Pakistan Telephone Cables and Clariant Pakistan have been included in the Index.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE 100-share index recomposed: Dawn

Foreign portfolio investment : KSE hits $100m mark in March: Daily Times

By Tanveer Ahmed

KARACHI: The foreign portfolio investment (FPI) hit $100 million mark in March, which is the highest monthly inflow in the current financial year.

Despite political and security concerns, the Karachi Stock Exchange attracted net buying of $100 million so far during the current month. Currently the foreigners have flooded the local stock market in recent weeks.

“The abnormal flows, is the result of renewed interest of fund managers in frontier and emerging markets,” Topline Securities analyst Farhan Mahmood said and added that the increasing role of foreign trade can be judged from the fact that their share in the total volumes in March 2010 was 15 percent as compared to the average 9 percent in 2009.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Foreign portfolio investment : KSE hits $100m mark in March: Daily Times

KSE recovers following SECP’s relaxation in accounting treatment: The News

By By Salman Siddiqui
KARACHI: Relaxation from market regulators on ‘accounting standards’ in accordance with the local demand helped the Karachi bourse bounce back on Friday.

KSE 100-share index posted a notable recovery of 226.54 points or 4.20 per cent and closed at 5,625.90 points. Its junior partner, the 30-share index, rose by 283.26 points or 5.25 per cent and concluded at 5,681.89 points.

Analysts said the notifications from the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to allow companies listed at the local bourses to show impairment-losses on bourses in ‘equity held for sale’ instead of showing them in ‘net profit & loss accounts’ for one year period revived positive sentiments.

The notification helped turn the stock market indicators into positive, as the day turnover, positive closing stocks, market capitalisation and indices-points; all turned higher. Trading activity jumped up by 81 per cent to 162.430 million shares on the ready market as compared to 89.798 million shares changed hands a day earlier. However, no activity was seen in the future market as usual. The overall market capitalisation increased by Rs66 billion and stands at Rs1,766 billion as compared to Rs1,700 billion yesterday. Moreover, out of total 267 actives, the number of positive closing companies stands at 203 against 43 fell in red regions, while the value of 21 stocks closed unchanged.

Ahsan Mehanti at Shahzad Chamdia Securities said intense buying was witnessed following the SECP relaxed treatment for impairment of capital losses & its direct change to equity instead of profit & loss account. Investors sentiment remained positive throughout the trading session as the improved profitability is likely to be witnessed after amendment made by the SECP, he added.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE recovers following SECP’s relaxation in accounting treatment: The News

KSE crosses 5,500 points on investment-friendly news: The News

Thursday, February 05, 2009
By our correspondent

KARACHI: Investment-friendly news helped the Karachi bourse benchmark KSE 100-share Index breach through 5,500 points mark on Wednesday.

The KSE 100-share Index gained 149.38 points or 2.77 per cent to end at 5,534.25 points. The parallel running junior 30-Index rose by another 210.76 points or 3.99 per cent and closed at 5,494.04 points.

The bazaar opened in green zone and stayed there throughout the session. The step-by-step rising up stocks market hit intra day high of 5,542.26 points. A little profit-booking in the closing moments, however, adjusted market to the closing level.

Day traders and margin hunters were active in almost all the favourite sectors including energy, banking, insurance, fertilizer, cement and telecom on upper levels. About two-dozen stocks hit their upper circuit breaker of five per cent of Re1, which ever is higher. The upper locks were mainly seen in the banking, insurance and energy stocks.

Analysts said that the continuous relaxation to the financial sector from its regulator i.e. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) kept inviting banking an insurance loving investors to the main arena.

“Following a 30 per cent benefit of Force Sale Value (FSC) on Non-performing Loans (NPLs) to banks last week, the SBP and Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) have reportedly agreed to give another benefit to financial institution and that is to gradually write-off deficit on revaluation of listed equity investment, TFCs and Sukuk for over two years period,” said Ahsan Mehanti at Shahad Chamdia Securities.

According to another analyst the lowering of rate of return on 10-years Pakistan Investment Bond (PIBs), from 16.5 per cent to 14.75 per cent, shows that the financial system holds sufficient liquidity. Moreover, the reduction in PIBs rate would encourage liquated investors to invest in equity market, he added.

Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein says that the forthcoming petroleum policy, which is likely to carry more aggressive targets and incentives for prevailing and new investors, provoked energy investors to take his part in the on-going bullish rally.

But these days buying euphoria might prove of short-term nature, as these days investors are mostly speculators, who are mainly focusing on short-term capital gains and dividend yields, he foresaw.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE crosses 5,500 points on investment-friendly news: The News

Pakistan’s Fund Buys Shares to Support Stock Market: Bloomberg

By Khalid Qayum
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- National Investment Trust, Pakistan’s biggest money manager, bought stocks for the first time from a 20 billion rupee ($250 million) fund announced this month to stabilize the market after a 58 percent slump last year.

“We bought shares for the first time today and will continue to buy at good rates and values,” Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman of the state-owned National Investment, said in a telephone interview from Karachi today.

Pakistan shares fell for 13 consecutive sessions starting Dec. 15 when the stock exchange ended a trading curb that had prevented the benchmark index from falling below its Aug. 27 level of 9,144.93 points. The drop in the benchmark index last year was the first annual decline in seven years.

Pakistan’s benchmark Karachi 100 Index rose 0.3 percent to 6059.09 at the 3:30 p.m. local-time close. The gauge fell 1.7 percent yesterday after a 6.8 percent increase in the previous four sessions after National Investment said it would buy shares.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan’s Fund Buys Shares to Support Stock Market: Bloomberg

Positive economic news take KSE to 24-week high: The News

By Salman Siddiqui

KARACHI: The Karachi stock market turned positive this week on the back of investment-friendly news, which helped revive interest and put to an end a long period of depression.The benchmark KSE 100-share index continued its upward momentum throughout the week and crossed 6,000 points. The index rose 6 per cent from the previous week to close at 6,143.81 points, a 24-week high.The free-float market capitalisation-based 30-share index surged 437.39 points or over 8 per cent to 5,778.61 at the end of trading week on Friday.

Volume in the ready market showed a substantial improvement over the week as strong activity was seen in top-tier stocks as well, after thin trading in most of these shares since the lifting of index floor on Dec 15 last year, said Atif Zafar of JS Research.Average daily volume in the ready market was recorded at 173.6 million shares compared to 108.99 million, showing a handsome increase of 59.3 per cent from the previous week.

Market capitalisation rose Rs94 billion to Rs1.936 trillion. Foreign portfolio investors, however, withdrew over $25 million during the week.Energy stocks led the rally with exploration and production (E&P) sector up 14.5 per cent, independent power producers (IPPs) 12.2 per cent and refineries 10.5 per cent. It was driven by value-hunters seeking double-digit dividend yield and renewed government commitment to end the thorny issue of inter-corporate debt, said Muhammad Saqib Sajjad of KASB Securities.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Positive economic news take KSE to 24-week high: The News

KSE sees 10 IPOs in its worst year: The News

KARACHI: The outgoing year will be the worst year for the local stock markets. With only five trading sessions remaining, the benchmark KSE-100 index is down 51 per cent (61 per cent in US dollars).This is its worst performance since the introduction of the index in 1991 when Pakistan’s market was opened to foreigners as part of financial sector liberalisation.However, despite a record fall in equity values and slowdown in overall economy, the Karachi market saw 10 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in 2008 compared with nine in 2007. Interestingly, nine out of 10 offerings in 2008 were made before the imposition of price floor.

Unlike 2007, which saw nine IPOs worth Rs15.5 billion (including greenshoe option), the calendar year 2008 witnessed 10 IPOs worth Rs7.4 billion (including greenshoe option). A total of Rs17.4bn was received from investors in 2008 (excluding Media Times Ltd) against these offerings, resulting in a value-wise over-subscription of 2.4 times.In 2007, total amount subscribed was Rs27.2 billion, recording over-subscription by 1.8 times. However, the smaller size in terms of the value of IPOs compared to the previous year could be linked to non-appearance of government offerings in 2008.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE sees 10 IPOs in its worst year: The News

Pakistan to remove its market floor: Financial Times

By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad

Pakistan’s stock market regulator on Thursday night ordered the managements of the country’s three stock exchanges to remove an artificial floor introduced in August this year to prevent share prices from tumbling further after many months of declines.

However, the floor became controversial amid charges from angry investors who argued this artificial mechanism effectively brought activity to a virtual halt as daily volumes of shares traded fell to an all-time low.

The order requires the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock markets to end the limit from Monday, in spite of many brokers and investors opposing such a move on the grounds it would see a flight of capital.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan to remove its market floor: Financial Times

Pakistan Extends August Stock Trading Curbs Until Oct. 31: Bloomberg

By Farhan Sharif
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan extended trading restrictions on its stock market for the third time in a month to prevent a further slide.
``Some time is still required for the implementation of market stabilization measures,'' Adnan Afridi, managing director of the Karachi Stock Exchange told reporters today. Shaukat Tarin, the Prime Minister's finance adviser will visit the exchange on Oct. 31, after which a decision about ending curbs will be taken, he said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE 100 Index has lost more than one-third of its value this year. Board members met over the weekend to discuss extending the curb, which was scheduled to be lifted on Oct. 27. The board also discussed ways to prevent possible violence by angry investors.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Extends August Stock Trading Curbs Until Oct. 31: Bloomberg

KSE to remove ‘floor’ on 27th: Dawn

By Dilawar Hussain
KARACHI, Oct 14: The Board of directors of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) decided on Tuesday to remove the ‘floor’ from under the KSE-100 index on Oct 27.“Normal trading parameters of 5 per cent upper and lower circuit breakers will be imposed from that day onwards,” a spokesman for the bourse said.The KSE had fixed a ‘floor’ under the index at the 9,144 points level on Aug 27 to prevent a further fall, after a fearful plunge in equity values by 41 per cent in less than four months. The measure had brought the market to a virtual halt with volume of shares traded at 11-year low on Tuesday, at just over half a million shares.The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Raziur Rehman, told Dawn that the ‘floor mechanism’ had been put in place to give the market a ‘breathing space’. He expressed the hope that as the world equity markets were heading towards stability, the KSE would be able to absorb the shock, if any, from soft landing.Incidentally, the announcement of ‘floor’ removal coincided with the arrival of Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tareen, who had expressed his disapproval of the ‘floor’ and turned down a request for closure of the market.Analysts were worried over a possible 20 per cent drop in the index in the first week after the planks are pulled from under the ‘floor’. The big scare was the foreigners’ selling, who still held $2 billion in equities.The KSE spokesman said the board had discussed with the finance ministry, SECP, SBP and other stakeholders three critical areas of liquidity; risk management and restoring investor confidence. It said the ministry and the SECP would “implement full set of stabilisation measures prior to Oct 27”.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE to remove ‘floor’ on 27th: Dawn

Pakistan's Market Policy: Economistan.com

FREE MARKETS:Pakistani economy along with the Pakistani rupee would be better served if the floor on KSE remainson for another month or so.

NO TO FLOOR REMOVAL FROM KSE

By Saad Sarwar Muhammad

Friday, October 10, 2008

Pakistan’s main index, the Karachi Stock Market (KSE) has witnessed a dramatic fall in market capitalization during the year 2008; falling from ahigh of approx 16,000 points in April in a steep fall to 9,000 points in a span of a few months. Resultantly, the Karachi Stock Market (KSE) put a floor of 9000 points on the index to arrest the unrelenting flight of capital. The market capitalization of the KSE has decreased by about $36 billion dollars during the last year. Around the same time the total liquid foreign exchange reserves have fallen from an all time high of $16.5 billion to $8.4 billion. This dollar flight has resulted in gradual erosion in the value of rupee, which has fallen from 60.74 to a dollar in October 2007 to around 80 to a dollar in October 2008 within a span of one year.

Statistically speaking, it was found after calculation that capital movement away from the stock market had a strong correlation with the depreciation of the rupee and it was found to be around 0.6057, while capital flight from the total liquid foreign exchange reserves was found to have a very weak positive correlation of 0.0525 with the depreciation of the rupee.

Foreign investors have repeatedly asked for the KSE index to be traded free from the floor imposed at 9000 points. If such a demand is met anytime soon and the market capitalization goes down by $15 billion, it would result in the further devaluation of the rupee from its current parity of 80 to a dollar to 90 to a dollar or beyond according to our extrapolation of data.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan's Market Policy: Economistan.com

SBP injects $100 million in market: The News

Updated at: 1215 PST, Wednesday, October 08, 2008

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan has injected US$100 millions in market today (Wednesday).

For more on this article, please click on the following link: SBP injects $100 million in market: The News

KSE-100 index recomposed: Daily Times

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has recomposed its benchmark 100 index, effective from October 06, 2008.

As per the recomposition rules, seven news companies have been included in the KSE-100 index. These companies are Askari Leasing, Nskshbandi Industries, Colony Sugar Mills, Arif Habib Bank, JS Bank, Altern Energy and Hinopak Motors Limited.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: KSE-100 index recomposed: Daily Times

Maybank may raise stake in MCB in August: Daily Times

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Maybank is set to buy another 5 percent of Pakistan's MCB Bank as early as next month, in a deal estimated at $218 million, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Malayan Banking Bhd, Malaysia's leading lender, bought a 15 percent stake in MCB Bank, Pakistan's top lender, for $680 million in May.

That deal included a clause whereby Maybank was obliged to buy up to another 5 percent of MCB Bank shares within one year of the first transaction.

The price for this stake was then agreed at Rs 490 per share, plus holding cost, with the total price not exceeding Rs 510 per share.

"The deal is very much on, the talks have started, and if all goes well, it should materialise sometime in August," said a source close to the transaction.

A spokesman at Maybank declined comment. A spokesman at MCB Bank said any stake purchase by Maybank would be in line with the previous agreement, but he did not give a time frame for the new purchase.

Shares in MCB Bank were up 5 percent at Rs 256.3.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Maybank may raise stake in MCB in August: Daily Times

Pakistan's Stocks Rise After 20 Billion Rupee Fund Is Activated: Bloomberg

By Farhan Sharif

July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan stocks rose to a two-week high, with the index among only two Asian winners, after the bourse activated a 20 billion rupee ($282 million) government- backed support fund to halt this year's 21 percent slide.

The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index rose 123.94, or 1.1 percent, to 11,280.62 at 10:14 a.m. local time, the highest since July 11. MCB Bank Ltd., the nation's biggest lender by market value, was among at least seven of the 100 companies on index that rose by the maximum 5 percent.

The index has risen 7.5 percent since July 22, when Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar visited the exchange to announce government backing for the fund to start operating. He spoke after a 15-day slump triggered violent protests last week.

``The initiation of the fund as announced by the minister added to investors' confidence,'' said Farhan Rizvi, an economist at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. ``The sentiment has supported the market to rise further, but it might see some correction in the later hours of the day due to the fast recovery in the last few days.''

Pakistan and the Sri Lanka Stock Market Colombo All-Share Index were the only measures to gain so far today. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.2 percent to 133.79, the most since June 12 and extending its decline this year to 15 percent.

The fund formed by a group of institutions including government agencies will eventually be increased to 50 billion rupees, according to earlier statements by the exchange. Initially, it will be run by the state-owned National Investment Trust but later it will be turned into an ``open-end fund,'' said Nasim Beg, who manages the equivalent of $300 million in stocks and bonds as chief executive officer at Arif Habib Investment Management Ltd. in Karachi.

`Technically Active'

``The fund is technically active from today but will only start buying if the market falls 20 percent within 30 days,'' Beg said.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan's Stocks Rise After 20 Billion Rupee Fund Is Activated: Bloomberg

Pakistan Stock Index Surges Most in Six Years on Support Plan: Bloomberg

By Farhan Sharif and Katherine Espina

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's benchmark stock index rose the most in six years after the Karachi exchange curbed the amount equities can decline, banned short selling and announced a planned fund to halt slumping prices.

The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index rose 8.6 percent at the close, the biggest climb since May 24, 2002. The exchange will limit share declines to 1 percent a day from 5 percent, and double the cap on increases to 10 percent. More than 30 of the measure's 100 stocks rose by the maximum, led by Oil & Gas Development Co., and 78 exceeded the earlier limit.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan Stock Index Surges Most in Six Years on Support Plan: Bloomberg

Pakistan's Lucky Cement raises $109 mln via GDRs: Reuters

KARACHI, May 8 (Reuters) - Lucky Cement (LUKC.KA: Quote, Profile, Research), Pakistan's biggest cement maker, said on Thursday it raised $109.3 million through the issue of global depositary receipts (GDRs) to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Lucky said it sold 15 million GDRs at $7.28, or 480 Pakistani rupees, each. Each GDR is equivalent to four shares of Lucky.

"An overwhelming response was received from the international investors and the issue was oversubscribed more than 2.5 times," the company said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan's Lucky Cement raises $109 mln via GDRs: Reuters