September 17, 2020: New claims for US jobless benefits continued inching down last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, though at 860,000 the applications were higher than expected.
However the insured unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits fell 0.7 points to 8.6 percent, and the number of people claiming under a special program for those not normally eligible declined in the week ended September 12 by more than 200,000.
AFP/APP
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Oct 20, 2020: Europe's stock markets dipped Tuesday in opening deals on fading hopes for a pre-election US stimulus and growing concern over a fresh surge in coronavirus infections in major economies.
In initial trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip companies was down 0.3 percent to 5,866.36 points.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 was down 0.5 percent to 12,787.94 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.2 percent to 4,917.98.
AFP/APP
October 20, 2020 (MLN): The exports of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products witnessed an increase of 26.46% MoM and 4% YoY to value at USD 82.98 million during the month of September 2020.
The Chemical and Pharma products exported from Pakistan mainly include Plastic Materials, Pharmaceutical products and other Chemicals.
The major chunk of exports under Chemical and Pharma sector during the month was mainly from the Pharmaceutical products which contributed a total of 32.7% of the entire group exports. Total Pharma products exported during the month under review clocked in at USD 27.15 million, showing a significant growth of 68.47% MoM and 48.77% YoY.
The second major component of exports under the Chemical and Pharma Group was Plastic Material which contributed a total of 18% of the entire group earnings. Total Plastic material exported during the month recorded at USD 14.98 million, marking a decline of 42.7% YoY and 14.7% MoM.
On a cumulative basis, the exports of Pharmaceutical Products during 1QFY21 surged by 22.6% YoY to USD 68 million as opposed to USD 55.6 million recorded in 1QFY20.
Meanwhile, the exports of Surgical goods and Medical instruments during the month of September 2020 surged by around 2% MoM to USD 33.5 million, compared to USD 32.9 million in the previous month.
On yearly basis, the export of surgical goods and medical instruments increased by 3.45% during the month mentioned above compared to USD 32.4 million in same month of a year ago.
Cumulatively, Surgical goods and medical instruments' export during 1QFY21 witnessed a marginal decline from USD 106 million recorded in Jul-Sep FY20 to USD 104.5 million, the latest data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) showed.
On the import side, the imports of Medicinal products grew to USD 107.9 million in September 2020 when compared with the import during September 2019 (USD 90.47 million), and August 2020 (USD 81.98 million), thus showing an upsurge of 19.27% YoY and 31.6% MoM respectively
Furthermore, during 3MFY21, the imports of Medicinal products rose by 8.6% YoY to USD 279.2 million from USD 257 million reported in Jul-Sep FY20.
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October 20, 2020: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that the government has fixed the support price of sugarcane at 200 rupees per 40 kg to protect the rights of farmers.
In a statement issued from Lahore on Tuesday, he said that the crushing season will commence in Southern Punjab from November 10 while in other districts of the province from November 15.
Radio Pakistan
October 20, 2020 (MLN): Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) has announced the postponement of Election of Directors for the time being due to delay in GOP nominations on OGDCL Board of Directors (BOD), and has submitted an impediment report to the Joint Registrar, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan for the same.
The company further stated that the Election of Directors, therefore, will not be part of the agenda in the forthcoming AGM of the members scheduled on October 28, 2020. However, the rest of the ordinary business would be taken as announced earlier.
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October 20, 2020 (MLN): National Refinery Limited (NRL) has incurred losses of Rs. 1.31 billion (LPS: 16.4) during the quarter ended September 30, 2020, i.e. nearly 93% higher as compared to the losses made in the same period of last year.
The company continued to make losses on the back of lower net revenue from contracts, which in turn resulted from higher trade discounts offered to the customers. While there was a decline in the cost of sales by 27%, the company still made a gross loss of Rs. 1.34 billion i.e. almost 6x higher than the same period of last year.
All the major expense heads, as well as the non-core expenses, declined during the quarter, giving some relief to the financial position of NRL. The Finance cost, too, depicted a decline of 59% owing to a lower interest rate regime.
The company received tax credit this time around too, amounting to almost 418 million i.e. almost double what it received in the same period of last year.
Financial Results for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 (Rupees'000) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Sep-20 | Sep-19 | % Change | |
Revenue from contracts with customers | 42,630,047 | 52,332,426 | -18.5% |
Trade discounts, taxes, duties, levies, and price differential | (15,367,807) | (13,064,811) | 17.6% |
Net revenue from contracts with customers | 27,262,240 | 39,267,615 | -30.6% |
Cost of sales | (28,602,766) | (39,455,909) | -27.5% |
Gross loss | (1,340,526) | (188,294) | 611.9% |
Distribution cost | (123,781) | (196,882) | -37.1% |
Administrative expenses | (206,716) | (234,402) | -11.8% |
Other expenses | (3,117) | (5,036) | -38.1% |
Other income | 95,146 | 101,773 | -6.5% |
Finance cost | (150,396) | (370,870) | -59.4% |
Profit before taxation | (1,729,390) | (893,711) | 93.5% |
Taxation | 418,290 | 214,946 | 94.6% |
Profit after taxation | (1,311,100) | (678,765) | 93.2% |
Earnings per share | -16.4 | -8.49 | 93.2% |
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