KSE plunges down after Sharif Brothers case verdict

KARACHI: After Supreme Court’s verdict of declarating Sharif brothers ineligible, Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) witnessed bearish trend on Wednesday as benchmark 100-Index shed more than 200 points to plunged down to below 5800 points.

KSE market capitalization up Rs1 bln this week

KARACHI: Market capitalization at Karachi Stock Exchange recorded Rs1 billion surge during this week.According to figures released by KSE, the valuation of listed companies increased 0.1 percent to Rs1.766 trillion compared to Rs1.765 trillion last week.

Asian stock markets fall after Wall Street tumbles

HONG KONG: Asian stocks market dropped Friday, with benchmarks in Japan and Hong Kong sliding about 2 percent or more, after gnawing economic fears sent Wall Street tumbling to its lowest close in more than six years.Investors found few reasons to wade into the market after the Dow Jones breached the levels it touched in November when the financial crisis sent global equities into a tailspin. The Dow's miserable finish _ its worst since Oct. 9, 2002, when the last bear market hit bottom _ spurred fears the markets' downturn is far from over. It also provided a clear sign that investors don't see a quick end to the worst global slowdown in decades despite the unprecedented economic measures taken by governments around the world. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 141.27 points, or 1.9 percent, to 7,416.38, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 324.59, or 2.5 percent, to 12,698.77. South Korea's Kospi shed 3.7 percent to 1,065.80 as the country's currency, the won, continued to lose ground against the dollar. In mainland China, Shanghai's benchmark gained 1.5 percent after the government said it would aid light industry and petrochemical suppliers in its latest stimulus measures. That came as the governor of the central bank of Australia, its own economy heavily reliant on Chinese demand for commodities, said China's economy has already bottomed. Overnight in New York, investors unloaded financial heavy weights Bank of America and Citigroup amid concerns that banks will need even more capital to restore their health. The Dow lost 89.68, or 1.2 percent, to end at 7,465.95, with broader indices slipping as well. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended down 9.48, or 1.2 percent, to 778.94. The index finished above its Nov. 20 close of 752.44,which was its worst finish since April 1997. With U.S. futures lower, Wall Street was poised to drop further. Dow futures fell 58, or 0.8 percent, to 7,404 and S&P500 futures were down 7.3, or 0.9 percent, to 772.10.

Muslim world’s 100 top companies for 2008

DOHA: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) ranked 29th among the list of top 100 companies of the Muslim World released here.US Consultancy, Dinar Standard in their 5th Annual Ranking released the list of 100 top companies of 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which depicted Turkey’s 23 companies among the list bagging most, while the largest oil company of the world Aramco topped the list.PSO ranked 29th whose revenue as compared previous year was seen surged by 41 percent. Previous year PSO was ranked at 31st and Sui Northern Gas at 99th.

Bullish trend continues at KSE, Index crosses 6000 points

KARACHI: The bullish trend continued today as the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has witnessed this morning a gain of more than 100 points in Index-100 during trading this morning after which it has crossed 6000-point psychological barrier.An increase in the activity and volume of trade was also witnessed yesterday as the chemicals and banking sectors were prominent. According to stock analysts, the increase in the investors’ confidence was mainly due to the encouraging results of trading in various companies. Besides, the reports of the peace agreements in northern areas have also made a positive impact.

Dawood Hercules announces cash dividend

KARACHI: Dawood Hercules Thursday announced a cash dividend of Rs1.5 per share. According to financial result released by Karachi Stock Exchange, the company posted a net profit of Rs3.6 billion during the year ended December 31, 2008. The earning per share was recorded at Rs28.Dawood Hercules registered a profit of Rs10.13 billion last year while its earning per share stood at Rs92.63.

KSE-100 Index up 40 points

KARACHI: Buying continued at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), pushing the benchmark KSE-100 Index by 40.51 points to close at 5,880.14.The turnover was higher at 191.596 million shares as price of 132 scrips recorded gains and 124 sustained losses while 13remained unchanged.A dealer said that the market was bullish in the morning and Index crossed 5900 level, but came down later when some profit taking was witnessed in leading scrips.The market capitalization was improved by about Rs 110 billion to Rs 1.835 trillion.Pak PTA was the volume leader with a turnover of 27.993 million shares followed by NBP with 13.441 million shares, OGDC 9.875 million shares, Jahangir Siddiqui Co 8.749 million shares and PTCL 8.155million shares.PTCL closed at 14.86, NBP 67.24, OGDC 53.56, NIB Bank 4.99,Jahangir Siddiqui 32.41, Pak PTA 2.70, UBL 43.13, Arif Habib Security25.64 and Bank Al-Falah 13.15.Rafhan Maize recorded the highest gain of Rs 65 to close at 1395followed by Ferozsons Lab which went up by Rs 5.68 to 119.47 while Shezan International dipped by Rs 14.53 to 276.08 and Tri-Pack went down by Rs 5.68 to 108.35.

Asian stocks tumble as bailout confidence fades

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets dropped early Wednesday as U.S. markets plummeted toward last year's lows and investors began losing hope that governments can rescue the world's economies from slipping deeper into recession.It marked the region's third day of declines, and followed a sell-off overnight on Wall Street that sent the major benchmarks to within a hair's breadth of their lowest close in more than five years.As President Barack Obama signed America's $787 billion measure to revive the world's largest economy, investors were still faced with a rash of downbeat news about everything form struggling U.S. carmakers to beleaguered banks and slumping business activity. Amid the growing evidence of decay, investors are still waiting for more specifics from policy makers on plans to turn around a flagging world economy.

Asian markets fall as Japan's recession deepens

HONG KONG: Most Asian stock markets fell Monday, as new figures showed Japan's economy contracted at its quickest pace in 35 years and Group of Seven finance ministers warned the global slump will drag on through most of the year.The fourth quarter GDP numbers out of Japan, worse than many forecasts, were a sobering reminder of the toll on Asia's export-driven economies as world demand collapses amid the worst slump in decades.Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average edged down 29.23 points, or 0.4percent, to 7,750.17, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 118.07points, or 0.9 percent, to 13,436.60. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.4 percent to 1,176.23. India's benchmark dropped more than 3 percent, Australia's stock measure eased 1.2 percent and Singapore's index was off 0.6 percent.Meanwhile, Shanghai's main index jumped 3 percent as mainland stocks extended their rally in the new year. In Japan, several exporters were hurt by the data showing the economy sank deeper into recession. Shares in Toyota Motor Corp. lost 0.7 percent, while electronics heavyweight Canon Inc. slid 1.2 percent. Sony Corp. lost 1.3 percent. Also weighing on markets were declines on Wall Street last week.

KSE buoyant, 100-Index surges by 227 points

KARACHI: Aggressive buying at Karachi Stock Exchange pushed the benchmark KSE-100 Index by 227 points to finish the last trading of the week at 5,625.Market analysts attributes today’s bounce back of share prices to SECP’s decision of waiving specific accounting requirements on investment portfolio losses.The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan on Friday said it "has granted relaxation in the accounting treatment for equity securities held by companies."This relaxation is valid till Dec. 21, 2009, the regulator added.The share market on Friday opened buoyant and investors’ interest in various sectors kept it upbeat throughout the two sessions.The trade volume was recorded at 160 million shares.Bank Alfalah was the volume leader which gained Rs1 to close at Rs13.21.

Facing a Loss, Toyota Offers Job Buyouts, Ends Bonuses

By KATE LINEBAUGH
Toyota Motor Corp. is offering widespread job buyouts to its U.S. workers for the first time and cutting the workweek at some of its American plants by 10% to contend with falling sales.
The Japanese company also said it is eliminating bonuses for approximately 3,000 executives and salaried employees and cutting executive pay. In addition, the world's biggest car maker said there will be no wage increases for the foreseeable future and spring bonuses paid to hourly workers will be reduced and later eliminated.
"We are taking every measure we can to protect employment," said Mike Goss, a Toyota spokesman. The company is also adding several days in April when its North American plants will be closed as it seeks to reduce inventory levels by about half in the second quarter.
Toyota, which has a corporate philosophy of preserving employment, has avoided cutting jobs even in difficult times. Toyota has been paying two entire shifts of workers at two plants in the U.S. even with only one shift of production running. The company uses the time to try to hone the workers' skills.
Toyota has been hit hard in the downturn, forecasting its first annual loss in 59 years. Last week, the company posted a net loss of 164.7 billion yen ($1.83 billion) for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a 458.67 billion yen profit a year earlier.
Some of Toyota's rivals announced massive job cuts this week. Nissan Motor Co. said it would lay off 20,000 workers and General Motors Corp. announced 10,000 white-collar job cuts. GM also offered retirement incentives to 22,000 of its 62,000 United Auto Workers union members.
GM is aiming to reduce its labor costs to be more competitive with Toyota's. GM pays about $1,300 more in labor for each vehicle than Toyota does, according to data provided by the companies. The terms of the $13.4 billion federal loan that GM received require it to accelerate negotiations with the union to lower that differential.
As an inducement to leave the company, Toyota is offering all 25,000 of its North American workers 10 weeks of pay, two weeks of additional pay for every year of service and $20,000. The company doesn't expect a significant number of employees to take the option and has no target for its "voluntary exit program," Mr. Goss said.
That compares with GM's offer of $20,000 in cash to certain workers to leave the company, plus a $25,000 voucher toward a car purchase.
"With the reduced workweek and other cost-cutting measures, we plan to continue to fully utilize the team members we have," Mr. Goss said. The buyout program "is only meant as an option for team members who want to do something else."
The 10% workweek reduction will likely take place at several of its plants as early as April, with operations in San Antonio and Princeton, Ind., likely to adopt the program quickly. Both plants have lines producing vehicles at half capacity. Toyota's unionized plant in California and a small car plant in Canada are less likely to implement the reduction in weekly hours.

Selling pressure continues to gloom KSE

KARACHI: Bears dominated at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) depriving the benchmark KSE-100 Index of 26 points which finished the day at 5,429.The share market opened in the red zone and kept seesawing throughout the session. The major Index at one stage also witnessed a level as a high as 5,563 points. But later the investors opted to book profit which led the Index to close at the present level.The trade volume was recorded at 160 million shares.OGDC remained volume leader which slipped paisas 10 to close at Rs48.18.Market analysts predict selling in the coming sessions.

Asia stocks sink as investors eye US stimulus plan

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were mostly lower in erratic trade Tuesday, as investors’ awaited details of massive U.S. spending plans to revive the world's largest economy and bolster its troubled financial industry. Markets fluctuated throughout the day after rising sharply last week on hopes the U.S. stimulus measures will speed recovery in its recession-hit economy.Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was down 23.09 points, or 0.3 percent, at 7,945.94, while South Korea's Kospi shed 3.82 points, or 0.3 percent, at 1,198.87. Benchmarks in Australia, New Zealand the Philippines and Thailand also fell. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was up just 0.4 percent at 13,824.45after swinging in and out of negative territory throughout the session. Markets in India and Taiwan also gained. In mainland China, Shanghai's key index _ which had surged about12 percent over the last six trading days _ rebounded from the red to close 1.8 percent higher as figures showed the country's inflation eased to just 1 percent in January.For the most part, Asian trade matched a listless session in the U.S., where markets wavered ahead of announcements from Washington. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.72, or 0.12 percent, to 8,270.87. The blue chips fluctuated between gains and losses 49 times during the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.29,or 0.15 percent, to 869.89. Wall Street futures pointed to a lower open in the U.S. Dow Jones industrial futures were down 63 points, or 0.8 percent, at 8,155.Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 7.9, or 0.9 percent, at 857.2.

Stocks end mixed as investors look to Washington

NEW YORK – Investors are waiting for Washington to make the next move.
Stocks ended a quiet session with only modest changes Monday as Wall Street sought details of how the government will reshape a rescue plan for the financial industry. Investors are also watching as political leaders scramble to put together an economic stimulus program.
The market is awaiting a Tuesday speech by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlining President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul the government's $700 billion financial bailout package. Congress passed the measure last fall as the credit markets began to seize up on fears about rising levels of bad debt. Geithner had been scheduled to announce the plan Monday, but the White House pushed back the speech to focus on the stimulus bill.
The Senate is expected to pass an $827 billion stimulus bill on Tuesday. The government, however, still faces the challenge of reconciling the Senate bill with the House's $819 billion version that passed earlier. Republicans and Democrats have been at odds over the plan, which is designed to help pull the economy out of the worst recession in decades. The Obama administration is still pressing to have the stimulus measure on the president's desk for signing by the middle of this month.
Although Monday's session was quiet, investors showed some signs of nervousness after Obama, speaking during the first news conference of his administration Monday night, warned that a failure to act swiftly and boldly "could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
After Obama spoke, Dow Jones industrial futures were down 68, or 0.83 percent, at 8,150. Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 9.1, or 1.05 percent, at 856, and Nasdaq 100 futures were off 8.75, or 0.69 percent, at 1,267.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is also expected to testify Tuesday at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the central bank's efforts to revive lending during the financial crisis.
Investors were hesitant to make big moves Monday with so much news expected from Washington in the coming days.
"We saw a lot of buying ahead of the announcements," said Chris Johnson, president of Johnson Research Group. "Investors are simply biding their time to see if those expectations are going to be met."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.72, or 0.12 percent, to 8,270.87. The blue chips fluctuated between gains and losses 49 times during the session.
Broader stock indicators were mixed after a big rally last week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.29, or 0.15 percent, to 869.89, and the Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.15, or 0.01 percent, to 1,591.56.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.76, or 0.59 percent, to 467.94.
Gainers outnumbered losers by about 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to a light 4.93 billion shares compared with 6.38 billion traded Friday.
On Friday, the market largely overlooked a horrible jobs report and rallied in anticipation of the stimulus bill and changes to the financial bailout. The Labor Department said U.S. employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January. That left the unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, the highest level since late 1992.
The Dow industrials ended last week up 3.5 percent, the S&P 500 index rose 5.2 percent and the Nasdaq posted a huge 7.8 percent gain.
"Given that we had a good two-day rally and a strong performance last week, it's not surprising that we would see some softness," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments. "There is a tug of war between the problems that we know are in front of us and the promise that is expected between the bank rescue package and the stimulus plan."
Bond prices ended mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 2.99 percent from late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.32 percent from 0.27 percent late Friday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude fell 61 cents to settle at $39.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Johnson cautioned that stocks could give up some of their recent gains even if investors are pleased by changes to the financial rescue fund and if Washington is able to pass the stimulus package.
"If everyone is betting on it, the payout on the other side is going to continue to decline," he said, likening the market's recent rally on predictions of an improved economy to what happens when too many gamblers wager on the same horse.
Amid the anticipation over the government's plans there were reminders that an economic recovery is still far off.
Nissan Motor Co. said it will slash 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, over the next year to cope with what the Japanese automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.
Meanwhile, Barclays PLC warned that further asset write-downs — on top of the massive $11.9 billion booked for 2008 — were likely and said executive directors would not be getting any bonuses. However, Britain's third-largest bank by assets said its 2008 net profit fell only 1 percent, boosted by last September's acquisition of part of failed investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Financial stocks led the market higher ahead of the latest version of the Treasury Department financial rescue plan. Bank of America Corp. jumped 76 cents, or 12.4 percent, to $6.89, while General Electric Co. rose $1.54, or 13.9 percent, to $12.64. GE has a big finance arm.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.37 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.48 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.39 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average dropped 1.33 percent.

Govt to offer shares worth Rs. 20 bn to overseas Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minster on Finance, Shaukat Tareen said on Tuesday that poverty rate in Pakistan has climbed to 28 percent.Addressing a seminar here, Tareen said government’s top priority, at the moment, is to bring rate of inflation down to 9 percent. The seminar was held in collaboration with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).He said the government would sell shares worth Rs. 20 billion to overseas Pakistanis. Tareen said talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the Market Stabilisation Fund (MSF) have yielded positive results, details of which would be released soon.PM's advisor added that unit of new fund would be offered to overseas Pakistanis, he ruled out the news that foreign investors pulled out their capital from stock market.Shaukat Tareen said previous governments ignored important sectors of agriculture, production, human resource development, education and health which are key to progress. Speaking on the occasion, State Bank Governor, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said that growing rate of unemployment and poverty posed greater challenge to the country which need to be addressed.

Fauzia Wahab to visit KSE on Wednesday

KARACHI: Chairperson National Assembly’s Finance Committee Fauzia Wahab will visit Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Wednesday.KSE officials told Geo News on Saturday that she will undertake the visit on the invitation of KSE.During the visit Fauzia Wahab will meet KSE board members. She will brief them about the progress made in connection with demutualization of stock exchanges of the country and government’s policy for the development of equity market.

KSE market capitalization rises by 7.8%

KARACHI: The market capitalization at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has recorded over 7.8 percent increase during this week.According to the figures released by KSE, the values of shares of the listed companies witnessed a rise of Rs23 billion in this week while the total market capitalization stood at Rs1.71 trillion compared to Rs1.578 trillion last week.