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Gold edges higher by Rs350 per tola
December 7, 2021 (MLN): Gold continued to extend gains in the domestic bullion market today as the price of 24-karat gold inched up by Rs350 to close at Rs124,000 per tola.
Similarly, the price of 10-gram of 24k gold also increased by Rs300 and was traded at Rs106,310 while the 10gm 22k gold was valued at Rs97,451, as reported by Karachi Sarafa and Jewellers Association.
On the contrary, the price of 24-karat silver remained stagnant at Rs1,460. Likewise, the price of 10-gram silver stayed flat at Rs1,251.71.
In the international market, the demand for gold remained steady, saw an up of $1 to stand at $1,781 on the back of a strong dollar which offset the back for precious metal stemming from concerns regarding the economic impact of the emergence of Omicron. Meanwhile, silver was traded at $22.43 an ounce.
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UAE shifts weekend to Saturday and Sunday from January 1st
December 7, 2021 (MLN): The United Arab Emirates will shift its weekend to Saturday and Sunday for government entities as it looks to bring itself more in line with the rest of the world, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
As per the details, the UAE government said it will adopt a 4-1/2 day working week from January 1, with the weekend starting on Friday afternoon and lasting until Sunday.
Presently, the UAE and the rest of the Gulf nations, have a Sunday-Thursday working week.
“This will align the UAE with global markets and make it easier for international corporations to do business,” said Nabil Alyousuf, chief executive officer of Dubai-based International Advisory Group, reported Bloomberg.
“This will increase the number of days we do business with the rest of the world, which will boost trade,” he added.
In the context of Pakistan, this development will increase business turnover, said Malik Bostan, President Forex Association of Pakistan, while speaking to Mettis Global News.
“As 70% of Pakistan’s workers are in the Middle East, it will also boost remittance inflow,” he added.
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CCAC revises cotton production for the fourth time
December 07, 2021 (MLN): The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) has revised the cotton production target for the fourth time, by around 3 percent, from 9.37 million bales set for 2021-22 to 9.1 million bales, the sources told Mettis today.
As per earlier expectations of the committee, the cotton production was to be around 10.05 million bales. However, the estimates were later revised to 8.46mn bales. In October'21, the committee revised its estimates once again and according to which the cotton production to be around 9.37mn bales.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Akmal Sidiq, Technical Advisor, Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) for the third time. The committee estimated 5.168 million bales in Punjab, 3.5 million bales in Sindh, 0.43 million in Balochistan, and 0.004 million bales in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dr. Khalid Abdullah, Cotton Commissioner, presented an overview of the cotton production scenario in the country. Dr. Abdul Qayum, DG Crop Reporting Services Govt of Punjab assessed the production of 5.168 million bales from its earlier assessment of 5.44 million bales. However, Sindh retained its earlier assessment of 3.5 million bales.
On the other hand, Ahsan-ul-Haq, President, Cotton Ginners Forum said that the cotton output will be around 7.5 to 7.8 million bales. He also highlighted that textile mills during FY22 have received hefty export orders and to meet these orders, the textile imports will be around 7 million bales during the ongoing fiscal year.
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PSX Closing Bell: Undertow
December 07, 2021 (MLN): In line with global equities, the Pakistan Stock Exchange also witnessed positive momentum throughout the trading on Tuesday as bulls remained dominant across the board leading the benchmark KSE-100 index to close in green amid the higher cement despatches reported in November.
Ahsan Mehanti, Director Arif Habib Group told Mettis Global, stocks rallied on Tuesday due to an increase in cement sales. Meanwhile, the rise in oil prices also supported a bullish close as concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant on fuel demand eased.
Topline Securities in its market wrap said, “The market made an intraday high of 78 5points as investors cheered the news flow regarding PDM where they deferred resignation and hold “Mahngai March” in March.”
The index remained positive throughout the session touching an intraday high of 44,065.89.
Of the 95 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 73 closed up 20 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 89.33 million shares.
Sectors propping up the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 115 points, Technology & Communication with 114 points, Cement with 85 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 33 points and Refinery with 27 points.
The most points added to the index was by TRG which contributed 68 points followed by OGDC with 54 points, PPL with 46 points, LUCK with 33 points and SYS with 26 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by Glass & Ceramics with 1 points, Textile Spinning with 1 points and Leasing Companies with 1 points.
The most points taken off the index was by ENGRO which stripped the index of 20 points followed by UBL with 10 points, COLG with 9 points, PKGS with 8 points and KEL with 7 points.
All Share Volume increased by 52.47 Million to 229.38 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.97.56 Billion.
Total companies traded were 347 compared to 314 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 247 closed up, 82 closed down while 18 remained unchanged.
Total trades increased by 18,047 to 108,086.
Value Traded increased by 2.29 Billion to Rs.8.37 Billion
| Company | Volume |
|---|---|
| Telecard | 27,004,500 |
| TPL Properties | 15,710,000 |
| Treet Corporation | 14,764,000 |
| Hascol Petroleum | 11,357,782 |
| Unity Foods | 9,984,465 |
| Byco Petroleum Pakistan | 9,517,000 |
| Worldcall Telecom | 8,062,500 |
| Oil & Gas Development Company | 7,907,015 |
| Ghani Global Holdings | 7,133,500 |
| TRG Pakistan | 6,930,326 |
| Sector | Volume |
|---|---|
| Technology & Communication | 53,438,259 |
| Food & Personal Care Products | 33,854,495 |
| Miscellaneous | 18,821,200 |
| Oil & Gas Marketing Companies | 16,477,563 |
| Refinery | 15,199,663 |
| Oil & Gas Exploration Companies | 13,775,452 |
| Commercial Banks | 12,719,945 |
| Cement | 10,054,463 |
| Chemical | 9,457,310 |
| Engineering | 6,273,344 |
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PKR slides by 31 paisa in interbank
December 07, 2021 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) remained under pressure today owing to the gloomy macros, depreciating by 31 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session. The currency closed the trade at PKR 176.79, another all-time low.
On Monday, the local unit managed to gain only 29 paisa to settle the trade at PKR 176.48 per USD.
The market showed no excitement after getting a $3bn deposit as PKR made tiny gains to close 35 paisa stronger, Asad Rizvi, the Former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said.
Probably realizing that funds are sort of operating reserves that can only give a temporary boost, but is not good enough to solve structural financial pressures, he added.
During the session, the rupee traded within a range of 70 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 177.20 and an intraday Low offer of 176.50.
As per the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), PKR gained 30 paisa for buying and lost 30 paisa for selling over the day closed at 177.70 and 178.80 respectively in the open market.
The local unit has depreciated by 10.88% or PKR 19.24 in the fiscal year-to-date against the USD. Similarly, the rupee has weakened by 9.59% or PKR 16.95 in CY21, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a decline of 0.60%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 1.4 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 234.87 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 233.47 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 55 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 199.58 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 9.50/9.65 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.05/9.15 percent.
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Zahidjee Textile says ZTL no longer its subsidiary
December 07, 2021 (MLN): Zahidjee Textile Mills Limited has announced on Tuesday that Zahidjee Towers (Pvt) Limited (ZTL) is no longer a subsidiary of the Zahidjee Textile Mills Limited, the company filing on PSX showed.
On March 31, 2021, Zahidjee Textile Mills Limited had approved the sale of 35.92 million shares of ZTL, representing 54.39 percent of the issued and paid-up share capital of ZTL.
The aforementioned sale now stands complete, the notice said.
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Pakistan signs $15.32bn new foreign loan agreements in FY21
December 07, 2021 (MLN): Pakistan signed new loan agreements worth $15.316 billion with various development partners, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Authority China and foreign commercial banks during the FY 2020-21, the latest annual report on Foreign Economic Assistance (FEA) released by Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Out of total new agreements, $6.97bn worth of financing agreements were signed with multilateral development partners, $4.66bn with foreign commercial banks, $187mn with bilateral development partners.
In addition, the government also obtained $2.5bn from international capital markets through the issuance of Eurobonds and $1bn from SAFE Authority as a deposit.
Around $4.802bn worth of agreements, which constituted 31% of the total new commitments were commercial borrowing. This financing was arranged to refinance maturing commercial debt.
Meanwhile, the Finance Division issued Eurobonds worth $2.5bn (16% of the total commitments) in the international capital market. An amount of $1bn (7%) has been arranged from China's SAFE authority to repay the deposit to a friendly country.
Among the multilateral development partners, World Bank emerged as the largest development partner in terms of new commitments of FEA followed by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Foreign economic assistance in Pakistan is broadly categorized as project financing, program financing and commodity financing.
Going by the debt bulletin report, project financing is obtained for funding socio-economic and infrastructure development projects. While program financing is secured to support the wide-ranging economic reforms and balance of payments and is generally obtained from multilateral development partners such as ADB, World Bank, AIIB, etc. (on concessional terms and conditions with longer maturity).
The commodity financing is arranged for the procurement of crude oil mainly from the IDB. In addition, the government also raises funds from international financial institutions and capital markets to meet its immediate fiscal and liquidity requirements.
During the period, out of $15.32bn, an amount of $2.015bn (13% of the total commitments) was earmarked by multilateral development partners as program financing to broaden and deepen the financial system. An amount of $4.19bn (or 27% of the total) was allocated for project financing and $952mn (or 6% of the total) for commodity financing purposes.
With regards to project financing, the government is receiving financing for various sectors of the economy, ranging from energy/power to transport & communication; and from health & education to agriculture & rural development. The sectoral composition of the commitments reflects the priority development objectives of the government.
Energy & Power is the key priority of the government during the fiscal year 2020-21 with a total share of 35% out of total project financing. Rural Development and Social Welfare emerged as a second priority with a share of 23%, followed by Governance (18%).
On the disbursement front, the country received $4.37bn during the FY21 from multilateral development partners and financial institutions that were mainly from ADB, WB, IsDb and AIIB. Meanwhile, the collective disbursement of $454mn or 3% of the total disbursements was from bilateral development partners particularly from China, France, USA and the UK, the bulletin revealed.
The inflows from the multilateral and bilateral development partners are indicative of their commitment to support the development priorities of the government. These inflows are long-term and on concessional terms with a lower cost which is a reflection of the healthy composition and quality of external public debt.
As of 30th June 2021, Pakistan’s total external public debt stood at $85.6bn that was derived from three key sources. The major source is multilateral debt (comprising of 49% inclusive of IMF), followed by bilateral 25%, and foreign commercial banks 11% while the remaining 15% of debt consists of SAFE deposit and Eurobonds (inclusive of Sukuk).
The report highlighted that 70% of total external public debt consisted of loans on fixed interest rates while 30% of loans are obtained on floating interest rates.
During July- June 2021, the debt bulletin disclosed that the government settled $8.39bn on account of debt servicing of external public loans. It consists of a principal payment of $6.94bn and an interest payment of $1.45bn.
During the period, the majority of repayments were made against the commercial banks (45%), followed by IMF (15%), ADB (12%), IsDB (11%), World Bank (10%), Bonds (5%), Eurobonds (4%) and China (2%).
For the period under review, net transfers to the government‘s external debt were $6.37bn, including $1bn received from the SAFE authority. The share of concessional external loans with longer maturity increased by $1.59bn (multilateral and bilateral and IMF loans) and the share of foreign commercial borrowing and Eurobonds have increased by $3.78bn. This indicates qualitative improvement in the external public debt stock, it added.
It is pertinent to mention here that due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic developing countries all over the world are hard-pressed to mobilize resources to meet urgent health and economic needs. The Prime Minister took the lead in pressing Heads of State, governments of developed countries and international financial institutions, to provide debt relief to developing countries during these challenging times, it underlined.
Subsequently, the G-20 countries provided debt relief to developing countries including Pakistan by suspending temporarily the external public debt repayments. Due to this respite, the country has to spend fewer resources on external public debt servicing, it added.
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Long steel manufacturers increase rebar prices by Rs2,000/ton
December 7, 2021 (MLN): Long steel manufacturers, Amreli Steels (ASTL) and Agha Steels (AGHA) have increased their prices for rebars and girders by around Rs2,000/ton today, according to Fortune Securities.
This takes rebar prices to Rs195,500 -Rs197,500 per ton.
As per Fortune's channel checks, MUGHAL has also increased their prices for rebars and girders by around Rs2,000/ton today.
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HASCOL to conclude debt restructuring agreement: Chairman
December 07, 2021 (MLN): Hascol Petroleum Limited (PSX: HASCOL) is nearing to conclude the negotiation with banks for a debt restructuring agreement as the company is carrying a heavy burden of accumulated debt, Sir Alan Duncan, Chairman of Hascol said in Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today.
Recently, the company and Vitol, the single largest shareholder of the company, had offered a settlement of Rs54.5 billion worth of debt, owed to different banks.
Sources told Mettis Global that servicing the debt has cost as much as the scale of its total losses. In order to address this, the company has been in detailed negotiations with its bankers.
Hascol has been seriously constrained by tight liquidity, and the company would not have survived without the continuing support of its major shareholder, he said.
“We believe we are nearing the conclusion of those negotiations and hope soon to be able to announce a restructuring agreement under which short-term expensive debt is replaced by long-term affordable debt and some new equity,” he stated.
He termed the year 2021 a dramatic year as the board has worked tirelessly to turn the company around.
“First, we have published the 2020 accounts, and in doing so we have cleaned them up and corrected some previous entries which did not meet our high standards. We are now working hard on the 2021 quarterly accounts, and hope to be up-to-date with them within a few weeks,” he added.
“Second, we have changed the company’s auditors.”
It is not just Hascol that has had a difficult year. The entire OMC sector has had a challenging time both with market conditions and with the regulatory environment.
“Many of the problems OMCs have faced have not been of their own making, and we are pleased that the Government has taken positive steps on forex protection and retail margins which should help all companies in the sector,” he noted.
While concluding, he said: "If and when we succeed in this refinancing of the company, the board is confident that it will mark the opening of a new and better chapter in Hascol’s fortunes, and equip it to be restored as a profitable concern."
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Uber in talks with Mideast unit over outside investment
December 7, 2021: Uber Technologies is in talks with the management of its Middle East unit Careem to bring outside investors into the business, four sources familiar with the matter said.
Careem's ownership structure following the planned investment was not immediately clear, though sources said Uber would remain a shareholder while giving Careem's management greater decision-making power over its strategy.
The investment would help finance the further roll-out of Careem's so-called Super App, two of the sources said, which offers services outside its core ride-hailing business such as food delivery, digital payments and courier services.
One of the sources said Careem's management wanted to build on its Super App - of which co-founder and Chief Executive Mudassir Sheikha has long been a proponent - while Uber was focused on ride-hailing.
Uber and Careem both declined the comment.
The planned move comes just over two years after Uber bought its Dubai-headquartered rival, which operates predominantly in the Middle East, for $3.1 billion, keeping the brand and app intact.
Former McKinsey executive Sheikha co-founded Careem in 2012 and continued to serve as CEO following Uber's 2019 takeover.
It was not immediately clear how much investment would be sought, though one of the sources said Careem would focus on growing its payments and delivery businesses with the new funds.
Eventually, the new Careem business could be listed, one of the sources said.
Uber's 2019 acquisition of Careem gave the U.S. company market dominance across the Middle East and Pakistan ahead of its initial public offering in the same year that raised $8.1 billion from investors and valued the company at $82.4 billion.
Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm Grab, which also describes itself as a super app, last week went public following a record $40 billion merger with a blank-check company.
Reuters
