September 16, 2020 (MLN): The Monetary Policy Committee of SBP will meet on Monday, September 21, 2020 at SBP Karachi to decide about Monetary Policy. Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Reza Baqir, will give a press conference on the same day after the MPC meeting.
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September 26, 2020 (MLN): The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 0.32% during the week ended Sep 24, 2020 while the SPI increased by 8.86% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Combined Index was at 138.03 compared to 137.59 on Sep 17, 2020 while the index was recorded at 126.8 a year ago, on Sep 26, 2019
Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 22 items increased, 8 items decreased whereas 21 items registered no change during the week.
The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 0.24% and 0.58%.
The Lowest Income Group witnessed a weekly increase of 0.58% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 0.24%.
On an yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 7.33% and 12.13%.
Yearly SPI for the Lowest Income Group increased by 12.13% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 7.33%.
The average price of Sona urea stood at Rs.1690 per 50 kg bag which is 0.48% higher than last week’s price and 16.17% lower when compared to last year.
Meanwhile, average Cement price was recorded at Rs.565 per 50 kg bag, which is 0.36% higher than the previous week and 2.17% higher than prices last year.
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September 26, 2020: Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) Lt Gen (Retd) Anwar Ali Hyder has said that the federal government has taken four major steps to boost construction industry for providing low cost houses and employment opportunities to masses.
He was addressing a Seminar on Opportunities in Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme for members of BAAD organized by Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) at ABAD House here on Friday via Video Link. Chairman ABAD Mohsin Sheikhani, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing Task Force Zaigham Rizvi, Director General Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Askar Dawar, Director General Karachi Development Authority Asif Ikram, Former Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi, Head of HBL Islamic Banking Salimullah Shaikh, General Manager of Meezan Bank Syed Tanveer Hussain, Senior Vice Chairman ABAD Sohail Warind, Vice Chairman Abdul Rehman, Chairman Southern Region Ali Muhammad Ratadia, former chairmen ABAD Hanif Gohar, Arif Jeewa, Hassan Bakshi and a large member of ABAD were present on this occasion.
Lt Gen (Retd) Anwar Ali Hyder said that the federal government has taken four major steps for Naya Pakistan housing scheme including Fixed Tax Regime for builders and developers, 90 percent tax relief, provided incentives to private banks for financing Naya Pakistan Housing scheme and banks will start financing from next week. He said that banks were facing problems of providing house financing on low interest rate but the government has taken drastic step to provide house financing on 5 to 7 percent interest rates for which banks will get a number of incentives and I hope that banks will start introducing their products by next week.
Addressing the Seminar Chairman ABAD Mohsin Sheikhani said that Pakistan is facing shortage of more than 12 million houses and ABAD is working on low cost affordable housing since last seven years. ABAD had provided information of low cost housing schemes to Prime Minister Imran Khan and he has taken this initiative as his election declaration and now he is taking serious steps to fulfill his promise to provide 5 million low cost houses to the people of Pakistan. He said that Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, during a meeting today, has promised to grant project approval within fifteen days. The Chief Minister has also promised to provide land for starting low cost housing in Sindh like Punjab and KPK.
Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing Task Force Ziagham Rizvi said that the Prime Minister, after taking in-depth briefing of more than 70 allied industries of construction industry, had firmly decided to boost construction industry as this is the only industry which has potential of providing houses to people and a large number of jobs to skilled and unskilled workforce. He said that Pakistan’s banks have provided only 106 billion housing loans during last seventy years which is 0.23 percent of GDP. He said that the government has carved out 10-year housing plan.
Addressing the Seminar Former Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi said that construction of low cost house is possible with financing on very low interest rates. The government will have to provide free land and financing for success of Naya Pakistan Housing schemes.
Director General KDA Asif Ikram said that KDA is ready for joint venture with builders and developers for low cost housing schemes. He said that we are trying to provide free land for Naya Pakistan Housing scheme in Sindh.
Speaking on this occasion Head of Islamic Finance HBL Salimullah Shaikh and General Manager Meezan Bank said that banks are ready to provide 80 percent financing for low cost housing schemes on low interest rates.
DG SBCA Ashkar Dawar said that he will provide approvals of building plans within 10 days and ensure that all relevant departments are cooperating.
Press Release
September 25, 2020: Despite lackluster economic data, Wall Street stocks posted their best session of the week Friday, with tech shares leading the market higher.
The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.3 percent to 10,913.56, as indices shook off early weakness.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.3 percent at 27,173.96, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.6 percent to 3,298.46.
"The market has been under pressure for a while and is just catching a bit of a bargain-hunting Friday," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.
Despite Friday's session, both the Dow and S&P 500 closed the week with losses.
US durable goods orders grew by 0.4 percent in August, below estimates and a much slower level of growth than July's upwardly revised 11.7 percent increase.
The tepid data add to worries that consumer spending is weakening as progress on another coronavirus stimulus package remains stalled.
Analysts said the market is also becoming more worried about a protracted US presidential election after Donald Trump repeatedly declined this week to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses in November.
Still, large tech shares such as Amazon, Apple and Facebook all gained more than two percent.
Another big winner was Boeing, which surged 6.9 percent after Europe's aviation regulator said the long-grounded 737 MAX could be cleared to resume service by the end of the year.
The MAX has been out of service since March 2019 following two deadly crashes.
AFP/APP
September 25, 2020 (MLN): The capital markets opened modestly higher, finding some support from yesterday’s session. However, the KSE-100 index staged a U-turn in the second half of Friday and closed in the red zone due to last day of rollover week.
The Benchmark KSE-100 Index lost nearly 105 points or 0.25 percent decline to settle at 41,701-level in a topsy-turvy session.
According to closing note by Arif Habib Limited, Cement sector stocks sustained selling pressure due to apprehensions on Competition Commission’s raid on APCMA.
The trading activity was knocked by the recent Debt data releases by SBP, wherein domestic debt amounted to Rs. 23.39 trillion in July’20, up by 6% YoY.
Another important highlight of the day was the announcement by Maple Leaf Cement which has established Letter of Credit (LC) to expand its existing Waste Heat Recovery Plant to 25 MW with a projected outlay of Rs 1.8 billion.
During the session, Ismail Industries and Sapphire Textile Mills (SAPT) announced their financial results wherein Ismail Industries suffered a 33% decline in profits to stand at Rs. 423.7 million in FY20. While the latter witnessed a 56% YoY increase in net profits for FY20 to Rs 7.86 billion compared to the profits of Rs 5 billion reported in FY19.
The Index traded in a range of 496.56 points or 1.19 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 42,098.94 and a low of 41,602.38.
Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 39 closed up 57 closed down, while 0 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 314.27 million shares.
Sector wise, the index was let down by Cement with 85 points, Technology & Communication with 21 points, Insurance with 17 points, Automobile Assembler with 16 points and Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 15 points.
The most points taken off the index was by LUCK which stripped the index of 39 points followed by UBL with 22 points, TRG with 22 points, DGKC with 16 points and MUREB with 14 points.
Sectors propping up the index were Power Generation & Distribution with 16 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 15 points, Refinery with 12 points, Chemical with 10 points and Fertilizer with 9 points.
The most points added to the index was by HBL which contributed 30 points followed by COLG with 21 points, BYCO with 12 points, HASCOL with 11 points and KAPCO with 11 points.
All Share Volume increased by 0.13 Million to 435.02 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.10.23 Billion.
Total companies traded were 411 compared to 423 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 161 closed up, 232 closed down while 18 remained unchanged.
Total trades decreased by 5,743 to 123,847.
Value Traded increased by 0.31 Billion to Rs.15.42 Billion
| Company | Volume |
|---|---|
| Hascol Petroleum | 57,515,000 |
| Unity Foods | 47,495,500 |
| Byco Petroleum Pakistan | 28,432,000 |
| Pakistan International Bulk Terminal | 21,242,500 |
| TRG Pakistan | 20,798,000 |
| Askari Bank | 19,283,500 |
| K-Electric | 17,541,500 |
| Aisha Steel Convertible (Pref) | 16,767,500 |
| Pakistan Refinery | 11,914,500 |
| Kot Addu Power Company | 11,362,500 |
| Sector | Volume |
|---|---|
| Oil & Gas Marketing Companies | 64,248,309 |
| Vanaspati & Allied Industries | 47,500,200 |
| Refinery | 43,679,500 |
| Technology & Communication | 39,396,300 |
| Cement | 35,938,924 |
| Commercial Banks | 35,706,631 |
| Power Generation & Distribution | 31,616,239 |
| Engineering | 30,074,200 |
| Transport | 22,073,600 |
| Food & Personal Care Products | 13,428,420 |
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September 25, 2020 (MLN): National Refinery Limited (NRL) has successfully commissioned the two-stage distillation unit revamp of its Lube-I Refinery.
This would enhance the installed crude oil processing capacity of Lube-I Refinery from the current 12,050 Barrel per stream day (bpsd) to 17,000 bpsd and vaccum fractionation capacity from 5,200 bpsd to 6,600 bpsd, company’s notice to Exchange revealed.
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