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Oct 15, 2019: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) daily basket price declined to stand at 59.95 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday, compared with 60.97 dollars the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Also known as the OPEC reference basket of crude (ORB), the OPEC basket is a weighted average of oil prices from different OPEC members around the world.

Currently it averages the oil prices from 14 countries, namely Algeria, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

XINHUA/APP

October 15, 2019 (MNL):  Previous working day’s losses on trading floors carried on today’s session as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 102 points and ended at 34,083 level amid lack of positive triggers resulted in selling pressure for investors.

The Index traded in a range of 330.07 points or 0.97 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 34,259.07 and a low of 33,929.00.

Of the 89 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 46 closed up 40 closed down, while 3 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 99.81 million shares.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 59 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 45 points, Fertilizer with 18 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 12 points and Pharmaceuticals with 6 points.

The most points taken off the index was by HUBC which stripped the index of 41 points followed by POL with 23 points, OGDC with 21 points, SNGP with 14 points and ENGRO with 11 points.

Sectors propping up the index were Chemical with 7 points, Textile Composite with 6 points, Transport with 5 points, Commercial Banks with 4 points and Cement with 4 points.

The most points added to the index was by HBL which contributed 9 points followed by FCCL with 9 points, FABL with 8 points, COLG with 6 points and MCB with 6 points.

All Share Volume increased by 18.47 Million to 156.40 Million Shares. Market Cap decreased by Rs.15.04 Billion.

Total companies traded were 368 compared to 371 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 185 closed up, 158 closed down while 25 remained unchanged.

Total trades increased by 2,066 to 55,623.

Value Traded increased by 0.50 Billion to Rs.5.30 Billion

Copyright Mettis Link News

October 15, 2019 (MLN): The total money supply in the economy during August 2019 stood at Rs 21.28 trillion, marking a negligible growth of 0.24% as in last month it was Rs 21.23 trillion, shows provisional statistics of Monetary Aggregates for the month, released by the State Bank of Pakistan.

On yearly basis, the money supply displayed a growth of 9% YoY as it recorded Rs 19.45 trillion in August 2018.

Having broken down the overall money supply in broad categories, the central bank’s data shows that a total of Rs.5.29 trillion were circulated as notes while Rs.9.15 trillion accounts for transferable deposits which comprise all deposits that are exchangeable on demand at par without penalty/restriction.

The amount circulated as notes during the month has decreased by 2% MoM, whereas on yearly basis it increased by over Rs 685.6 billion or 15%.

Apart from this, other deposits constituted Rs.2.98 trillion in August 2019, up by 15%, YoY. Other deposits represent all claims other than transferable deposits in national or foreign currency that are represented by evidence of deposits. In contrast, coins circulated reduced by 1.3% during the year to Rs 8.5 billion.

Rs.261.38 billion worth of deposits were held with post offices while National Saving Schemes held Rs.3.59 trillion, up by 5% YoY.

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October 15, 2019: Work has started on $14.5 billion worth of Saudi Arabia’s energy and petroleum projects in Pakistan, Omar Ayub Khan, Federal Minister for Power and Petroleum said on Tuesday.

The initiatives are part of an effort to boost the production and use of oil and renewable power and overcome power shortages in the South Asian nation.

“In the power sector, Saudis are helping us install 500 megawatts renewable energy projects worth $4.5 billion in Baluchistan and a $10 billion mega oil refinery in Gwadar, which are part of the $20 billion investment announced during Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan earlier this year,” the minister said in an interview with Arab News.

“Studies have been carried out by Saudi company Aqua Power, Pakistani National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) and other leading companies to look into hybrid or solar projects. This will be a total $4.5 billion investment,” the federal minister said.

During a visit to Pakistan in February this year by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the two countries signed short-, mid- and long-term investment agreements worth over $20 billion, including for energy and petroleum projects.

Short-term projects signed in February include two Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas plants for $4 billion, a $2 billion investment by Saudi power producing company ACWA Power in Pakistan’s renewable energy sector and a $1 billion Saudi Fund for Pakistan.

Mid-term projects include $1 billion each for petrochemical and food and agricultural projects. The long-term investments are $10 billion for the construction of the multi-billion-dollar Saudi Aramco oil refinery in Gwadar and $2 billion for the minerals sector, the report said.

The total investment comes to $21 billion, according to government figures released after the crown prince’s visit.

Khan said the power projects in the pipeline also included a solar plant of 200-megawatt at the Habibullah coastal power station in Baluchistan and a 100-megawatt plant each in three other districts of the province.

He said the process of hiring technical experts for the Gwadar oil refinery project had started and would be completed in the next three months: “The refinery would have a 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day capacity that would help Pakistan cut its annual crude oil import bill by nearly $3 billion,” the minister said.

He said this was the first phase of Saudi investment in Pakistan “and as soon as they will start achieving targets, another phase of investment would start.”

The minister said that Saudi investment would help Pakistan achieve its target of shifting 30 percent of its energy needs to the renewable energy sector by 2030.

“Alternative Energy Development Board cleared the draft renewable energy policy last week, in which we are taking renewable energy from the current 1,500 megawatts to approximately ,8000 megawatts by the end of 2025, and then to 20,000 megawatts by 2030,” Khan said.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, in collaboration with Baluchistan’s provincial government, were also working to explore minerals in the province in a bid to promote indigenous exploration and production activities in both the oil and gas sectors, Khan said.

“We would be auctioning approximately 40 blocks in the exploration and production sphere in Pakistan. In this process, we welcome Saudi companies to participate in upstream exploration activities,” Khan said. “Aramco is already working in the downstream exploration activities in Pakistan and we would welcome more Saudi companies to come in Pakistan for investment, whether it is upstream, middle stream or downstream.”

He also welcomed Saudi participation in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor of energy and infrastructure projects, the flagship of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.

“It is a good opportunity for Saudis as well as other Middle Eastern companies to invest in Pakistan as it is next door to a big market like China,” the minister said.

APP

October 15, 2019: Chief Executive of the International Islamic Bank and Chairman of Pak-Qatar Takaful Insurance Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Thani Al Thani on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and shared his future business and investment plans in Pakistan.

Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah informed the prime minister that he intended to invest in hospitality industry and the planning was in an advanced stage, PM office media wing in a press release said. 

He said his group, Pak-Qatar Takaful, had over 70 branches in Pakistan and was now interested in investing in real estate, housing and hospitality sectors.

Sheikh Ali greatly appreciated prime minister’s efforts of promoting peace and security in the region and wished well for his visit to Saudi Arabia aimed in this direction.

The prime minister reaffirmed the importance Pakistan attached to its strong fraternal ties with Qatar and close cooperation between the two countries.

He expressed satisfaction over the positive trajectory of the relationship between Pakistan and Qatar, especially after the visit of Amir of Qatar to Pakistan in June.

APP