profit.com.pk Thursday, 24 May, 2012

REUTERS

JONATHAN STEMPEL/DAN LEVINE

The lawsuit, which also targeted underwrit-ers JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachsamong others, comes as Facebook and thebanks that took it public face many ques-tions about the IPO process, which culmi-nated in a May 18 stock market debutplagued by technical glitches. Facebookshares fell 18.4 percent from their $38 IPOprice in the first three trading days. In earlyafternoon trade on Wednesday, Facebookshares were up 2.5 percent at $31.78.

The legal action accused the defen-dants, including Facebook Chief ExecutiveMark Zuckerberg, of concealing "a severeand pronounced reduction" in revenuegrowth forecasts resulting from increaseduse of Facebook's app or website throughmobile devices.

Facebook was also accused in the law-suit of telling its bank underwriters to"materially lower" forecasts for the com-pany. "The main underwriters in the mid-

dle of the road show reduced their esti-mates and didn't tell everyone," saidSamuel Rudman, a partner at RobbinsGeller Rudman & Dowd, which broughtthe lawsuit. "I don't think any investor inFacebook wouldn't have wanted to knowthat information." Andrew Noyes, a Face-book spokesman, said: "We believe thelawsuit is without merit and will defendourselves vigorously."

Morgan Stanley had no comment. Itsaid on Tuesday that Facebook IPO pro-cedures complied with all applicableregulations, and were the same as in anyinitial offering. The lawsuit seeks class-action status, and was filed on Wednes-day in the U.S. District Court inManhattan. It asks for compensatorydamages and other remedies. On Tues-day, law firm Glancy Binkow & Goldbergsaid it filed its own lawsuit in Californiastate court on behalf of an investor. Nas-daq OMX Group Inc was also sued onTuesday by an investor who claimed theexchange operator was negligent in han-

dling orders for Facebook shares.IPO INVESTIGATIONS: Research ana-lysts at several underwriters lowered theirforecasts for Facebook after the MenloPark, California-based company in a May 9prospectus cautioned investors about thepossible impact of users shifting to mobileplatforms. Facebook makes little revenuefrom mobile ads, and did not say thatchanging user behavior could reduce profitand revenue.

The shareholders said the disclosuresabout Facebook's business risks were inad-equate, and that the company should havetold everyone, not just "preferred" in-vestors, that analysts knew those risks andcut their business outlooks accordingly.

Regulators including the U.S. Securi-ties and Exchange Commission, the Finan-cial Industry Regulatory Authority, andMassachusetts Secretary of the Common-wealth William Galvin have begun lookinginto how the IPO was handled. The U.S.Senate Banking Committee is also review-ing the matter. "The SEC has since the

1990s broadly condemned the trickling outof material non-public information, whichwould include that savvy, well-paid analystsare lowering estimates," said ElizabethNowicki, an associate professor at TulaneUniversity Law School and a former SEClawyer. Syndicate banks "are on the hook interms of liability by not making accurate,complete disclosure," she added. "Selectivedisclosure of analyst outlook changes is notacceptable."BOfA, BARCLAYS ALSO SUED: TheNew York lawsuit was brought on behalf ofDennis Palkon and Brian Roffe, who saidthey respectively bought 1,800 and 200Facebook shares at the IPO price, andJacob Salzmann, who said he paid morethan $123,000 on May 18 for 2,961 sharesat an average $41.77 each.

Reuters reported this week that fourunderwriters - Morgan Stanley, GoldmanSachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America -cut their Facebook forecasts after the May9 prospectus was filed, but that this was notpublicly revealed before the IPO.

[ID:nL4E8GM8SK][ID:nL1E8GN0FT]"If Facebook faced a known and partic-

ularly salient risk, boilerplate languagewould be insufficient," Nowicki said. "IfFacebook told underwriters to lower theirforecasts, it would certainly be material."

According to people with directknowledge of the matter, Facebook duringits IPO road show advised analysts for un-derwriters to reduce profit and revenueforecasts, people with direct knowledge ofthe matter said. Bank of America and Bar-clays Plc, are also defendants in the NewYork case. Other defendants include Face-book Chief Financial Officer David Ebers-man and several directors.

Barclays spokesman Mark Lane andGoldman spokesman Michael DuVally de-clined to comment. Bank of America andJPMorgan did not immediately respond torequests for a comment.

The case is Brian Roffe Profit SharingPlan et al v. Facebook Inc et al, U.S. DistrictCourt, Southern District of New York, No.12-04081.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

THE cash-strapped government’s budgetary borrow-ings from the banking system have swelled beyondRs 1 trillion. According to central bank data, thefunds-starved federal and provincial governments

borrowed from the central and scheduled banks over Rs1.051 trillion during July-May 11, FY12.

This depicts an absolute increase of Rs 431 billion or69.49 percent when compared with corresponding period ofFY11 when the banks had lent over Rs 621 billion to the gov-ernment.

Of the total budgetary borrowings, the government bor-rowed over Rs 594 billion from the scheduled banks and Rs458 billion from the State Bank. In same months last year,the government borrowings had accumulated to over Rs 398billion and Rs 223 billion from the banks.

Over FY11, this shows an upsurge of 49 and 105 percentin the government’s borrowings from the central and com-mercial banks, respectively.

The 105 percent raise in government loans from theState Bank negates the former’s tall claims that it was de-creasing its financing dependence on the central bank toavoid an imminent inflationary impact of the same.

Further, the analysts warn that the government’s heavyreliance on commercial banks for budget financing was alsoadversely affecting the growth prospects in the country.

The economic observers believe that the banks’ massivelending to the government was crowding out the private sec-tor, which worldwide is regarded the engine of growth in de-veloping countries.

During the period under review, July-May 11 FY12, the banks extended credit tothe private sector worth Rs 235 billionagainst last year’s Rs 108 billion. The banks’overall credit to thenon-governmentsector nosedivedto Rs 93 billionfrom Rs 119 bil-lion ofFY11. Theanal y s t s

from official and unofficial quarters agree that the bankswere going risk-averse given the current recessionary cli-mate that has crippled the borrowers’ capacity to repay,something evident from the banks’ increasing Non-Perform-ing Loans (NPLs).

According to central bank, the bad debts of the bankshave aggregated to over Rs 6 billion despite some improve-ment on the recovery front.

However, the banks’ heavy investment in the heavily-weighted government securities has doubled their Net Do-mestic Assets (NDA) to Rs 881 billion against FY11’s Rs 481billion. On the other hand, the Net Foreign Assets (NFA) ofthe banks stood at negative Rs 272.23 billion against posi-tive Rs 181 billion of last year.

The monetary expansion in the country has grown by9.09 percent or Rs 608.68 billion in monetary terms partlybecause of the government’s massive budgetary bank bor-rowings.

Though lower than last year’s 11.47 percent, over 9 per-cent expansion in the supply of money is considered by theanalysts as high.

The currency in circulation aggregated to Rs 204.34 bil-lion against 255.45 billion if corresponding months in pre-vious year. The analysts suggest that the government takeimmediate steps to improve the current poor law and ordersituation which was keeping the most-neededforeign as well domestic investment in thecountry at bay.

Facebook, banks sued over pre-IPO analyst calls

Some balloons never burst…g Government’s budgetary borrowings balloon beyond Rs 1 trillion

NEW YORK

REUTERS

Stocks fell 1 percent on Wednesday, with allS&P 500 sectors trading negative as con-cerns mounted over Greece's future in theeuro zone. Tech shares were among theday's biggest decliners as a weaker-than-ex-pected revenue forecast from Dell Inc(DELL.O), the third-largest computermaker, spurred fears that global tech spend-ing was declining faster than had been pre-viously anticipated.

Euro-zone officials have agreed thateach euro-zone country must prepare an in-dividual contingency plan in the event thatGreece decides to leave the single currencybloc. The agreement was reached during ateleconference of the Eurogroup WorkingGroup, which lasted for about an hour onMonday. An index of European shares.FTEU3 fell 2.2 percent to close at 971.99.

"It's very frightening to hear about thiskind of talk, even if it makes sense as a con-tingency, because the lack of a clear paththere continues to be very problematic forbanks," said James Dunigan, chief invest-ment officer of PNC Wealth Management inPhiladelphia.

An S&P index of financial shares .GSPFfell 1.2 percent, with Citigroup Inc (C.N)down 2.1 percent at $26.35 and Capital OneFinancial (COF.N) off 1.9 percent at $49.34.

Dell Inc (DELL.O) plunged 17.8 percentto $12.40, on track for its biggest one-daydrop in more than a decade after forecastingdisappointing second-quarter revenue.Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) lost 4.7 per-cent to $20.76.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI

was down 118.60 points, or 0.95 percent, at12,384.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index.SPX was down 11.75 points, or 0.89 percent,at 1,304.88. The Nasdaq CompositeIndex.IXIC was down 21.55 points, or 0.76percent, at 2,817.53.

Falling oil prices also depressed the en-ergy sector, with an S&P index of energycompanies .GSPE down 1.2 percent. U.S.July crude oil future fell $2.30 to a sessionlow of $89.55, trading below $90 a barrel forthe first time since November 1, on easingconcerns about Iran's nuclear dispute withthe West and increasing worries aboutglobal economic growth.

Earlier in the session, stocks had brieflytrimmed their losses after data showed newU.S. single-family home sales rose morethan expected in April and prices pushedhigher. The latest reading on sales of newhomes offered further evidence that thehousing market was turning the corner.

The data "adds to the growing sense thathousing is stabilizing, but it isn't enough toovercome the global issues driving the day,"said Dunigan, who helps oversee $112 bil-lion in assets.

Facebook Inc (FB.O) and banks, includ-ing Morgan Stanley (MS.N), were sued bythe social networking leader's shareholders,who claimed the defendants hid Facebook'sweakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16billion initial public offering. The stock wasup 2.3 percent at $31.70.

In the earnings arena, shares of TollBrothers Inc (TOL.N) rose 1 percent to$27.30 after the largest U.S. luxury home-builder reported a second-quarter profit,beating analysts' estimates, compared witha year-ago loss.

Euro zone braces itselffor the Greek tragedy Page 02

g Facebook Inc and Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of social networking company's IPO, were sued by shareholders who claimed thedefendants hid Facebook's weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16 billion initial public offering

THE NEEDLE’S IN THE HAYSTACK Wall Street falls1pc on Europe, Dell

PRO 24-05-2012_Layout 1 5/24/2012 1:12 AM Page 1

BRUSSELS

REUTERS

O FFICIALS reached the consen-sus on Monday afternoon duringan hour-long teleconference ofthe Eurogroup Working Group

(EWG). As well as confirmation fromthree euro zone officials, Reuters has seena memo drawn up by one member statedetailing some of the elements that eurozone countries should consider.

The EWG consists of officials whoprepare meetings of finance ministersand also form the board of the temporarybailout fund, the European Financial Sta-bility Facility (EFSF). It consists mostly ofdeputy finance ministers and seniortreasury officials.

"The EWG agreed that each eurozone country should prepare a contin-gency plan, individually, for the potentialconsequences of a Greek exit from theeuro," said one euro zone official familiarwith what was discussed on the call.

"Nothing was prepared so far on theeuro zone level for now, for fear of leaks,"the official said. A second official con-firmed the EWG agreement. The situa-tion in Greece, which faces elections onJune 17, seems certain to be discussed atan EU summit later on Wednesday.

The Greek finance ministry denied ina statement that there was agreement to

prepare contingency plans. "The Ministryof Finance categorically denies the re-ports stating that during the teleconfer-ence of the Euro Working Group on May21st 2012, it was agreed that each euro-zone country should prepare contingencyplans for the potential consequences of adeparture of the Hellenic Republic fromthe single currency area," the statementsaid. But Belgian Finance MinisterSteven Vanackere, asked by reportersahead of the EU summit, said: "All thecontingency plans (for Greece) come

back to the same thing: to be responsibleas a government is to foresee even whatyou hope to avoid." "We must insist onefforts to avoid an exit scenario but thatdoesn't mean we are not preparing foreventualities. I believe many countrieshave their contingency plans for thethings they want to avoid at all cost, liketerrorist attacks, and to say that we don'thave a contingency plan would be irre-sponsible," Vanackere said. The Greekelection, the second in two months, iswidely seen as a referendum on whether

the debt-laden country should stay in theeuro zone and undertake painful reformsand austerity, or leave and try its luckwith its own currency. Polls suggest thevote could go either way.50-BILLION-EURO GOODBYE?

The document seen by Reuters de-tailed the potential costs to individualmember states of a Greek exit and saidthat if it came about, an "amiable divorce"should be sought. It also said that ifGreece were to decide to leave, theEU/IMF could give it up to 50 billioneuros to ease its path. The document saidAthens would bear huge costs if it decidedto abandon the currency, while other eurozone countries would have more limitedcosts. But the paper said that the risk ofknock-on effects that could hit other eurozone countries under market scrutinynow was underestimated.

"The markets will definitively distrustthe euro," the paper said. Germany's Bun-desbank said on Wednesday a Greek exitfrom the euro would be "manageable".

The German central bank also saideuro zone states should have a say on fur-ther payments of aid to Greece under its130 billion euro bailout program. So farthe euro zone has disbursed 38.4 billioneuros from the second bailout program toGreece. The emergency lending is linkedto conditions of tough reforms, whichmost Greeks oppose.

news02Thursday, 24 May, 2012

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Acting President Senator Nayyar HussainBukhari Wednesday summoned the budget ses-sion of the National Assembly on June 1. The upcoming budget 2012-13 will be the fifthand last budget of the PPP and its allies whichwill be presented by Finance Minister Dr.Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.The Spokesman of the NA Secretariat said thesession has been summoned according to thearticle 54 clause 1 of the constitution.Sources said the Finance Minister would de-liver the budget speech on June 1, and then thesession will be suspended for two days. OnJune 4 formal debate on budget session wouldbe started including on cut motions presentedby various parties. Sources said it is expected that budget 2012-13would be approved on June 22.

Budget brawl toculminate soong NA budget session

summoned on June 1

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Payments for oil import bill is the key factors that has put pressure on our fragile economy adds to theelectricity generation cost, hitting hard the ordinary consumers as well as raising the cost of productionfor manufacturers. In a statement issued here on Wednesday President Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ICCI) Yassar Sakhi Butt said that Government should give immediate attention torun the existing power units by converting them form expensive fuels to cheaper options like coal-firedderiving coal from Thar coal fields and other renewable energy sources for cutting the oil import bill.ICCI President expressed his concern over soaring oil import bill by 43.52 per cent to reach $12.583 bil-lion during the first ten months of the outgoing financial year 2011-2012 against $8.768 billion in thesame period of last year. He said that oil imports comprise almost 40 percent of Pakistan’s total importbill that resulting in a huge trade deficit thus puts pressure on the local currency. He was of the view that government could also curtail oil import bill by availing Iranian offer to supply80,000 barrel crude oil daily and also by completing Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline for which Iran is willingto provide US$250 million to take care of foreign exchange component of pipeline. Yassar Sakhi Butt also highlighted the problem of circular debt that has swelled to Rs.670billion and be-coming a big threat to economic survival of the country. He said that with every passing day the countryis sinking deeper and deeper into economic mire that needs an economic stimulus plan to get it back ontrack. ICCI President said that any further increase in oil import bill would fuel inflation in the countryand disturb the balance of payments. If this trend continued, rupee would come further under pressure,therefore, he stressed upon the Government to take urgent measures to bring some stability in thefalling value of rupee by controlling oil import bill.

NEW DELHI

ONLINE

India plans to aggressively push wheat exports to Iran by offering lower prices than rival Pakistan andwill hold talks with Tehran early next month to resolve objections over traces of a fungal diseasefound in grain exports. Iran, which has been scouting for food supplies due to Western sanctions, iseager to buy wheat from India but wants to ensure a supply of grain free of Karnal bunt, a fungal dis-ease found in India's breadbasket northern states. "We are hoping to arrive at an agreement withIran," a Food Ministry official was quoted as saying by WSJ. The government is also trying to identifyregions in the country that can supply disease-free grain. It is aiming to export up to four millionmetric tons of grain to Iran this year. India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, is looking toexport grain to Iran at $280 a ton, free on board, compared with $290-$300/ton for Pakistaniwheat. India's need to export grain has acquired greater urgency due to a storage crunch of morethan 10 million tons. India is also anxious to export agricultural commodities following a bumpercrop. Shipments to Iran have to be cleared by a ministerial panel, but the government is hoping toexpedite clearance and start exports as early as mid-June. The panel may meet within a fortnight, an-other Food Ministry official said. Iran may not have much choice. Wheat imports will likely becomemore difficult amid sanctions and tightening global wheat supplies. For example, Russian exportsare expected to fall to 15.5 million tons from 17 million tons due to lower-than-estimated production,according to Rabobank. Separately, Indian exporters have contracted to ship around 300,000 tons ofsoymeal to Iran during the marketing year that ends on Sept. 30, said Davish Jain, former presidentof the Central Organization for Oil Industry and Trade. He said around 50,000 tons of soymeal ex-ports had been contracted with Iran last week, in the price range of $572/ton free on board.

The bill brims, the oil does not Wheat to go from our east to our west

Euro zone braces itself for the Greek tragedyg Each euro zone country will have to prepare a contingency plan for the eventuality of Greece leaving the

single currency, euro zone sources said on Wednesday

g Government must control the spiraling oil import bill: Yassar Sakhi Butt g India to hold talks with Iran

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The Karachi Electric Supply Company(KESC) has launched the public offeringof country’s first ever Utility Sector Re-tail Bond Issue titled as “KESC AZMTFC”. The Term Finance Certificates(TFCs) are instruments of redeemablecapital as defined under section 120 ofthe Companies Ordinance.

This issue is listed, secured andrated, offered in multiple tenors havinga total face value of Rs 2 billion and isavailable for subscription to the publicfor a three month period, starting fromMay 25 (2012) until August 24 (2012).Investments received would be utilizedfor financing KESC’s permanent work-ing capital requirements.

The KESC AZM Certificate issue isthe most flexible TFC issue in the coun-try, available in maturities of 13 months(KESC AZM TFC 1), three years (KESCAZM TFC 2) and five years (KESC AZMTFC 3). Coupon/profit rates per annum

are 13.00 percent p.a. payable monthlyfor the 13-month issue, 14.75 percentp.a. payable quarterly for the three yearsissue and 15.50 percent p.a. payablequarterly for the five years issue.

The total face value of the issue is Rs2,000 million including a Green Shoeoption of Rs 1,000 million. Totalamount offered is Rs 300 million, Rs1,200 million and Rs 500 million for 13months, 3 years and 5 years issue, re-spectively. The minimum investmentamount has been fixed at Rs 10,000 inorder to allow for broad based participa-tion in the venture. Principal repaymentof the investment would be available atmaturity. Early redemption optionwould also be available to investors sub-ject to varying redemption charges and a15 day prior notice. Each AZM TFC is se-cured by monthly collections from over700 of KESC's top corporate customersexpected to provide over 10 times cover-age on average on each monthly pay-ment amount. The security also includescharge on fixed assets.

PARC refuses to implement PM’sorder to restore 269 employees

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

The Prime Minister’s order regarding restoration of 269 sacked em-ployees has been flatly refused by Pakistan Agriculture ResearchCounsel (PARC) as its Board of Governance(BoG)has decided to re-send the case with some objection. The meeting of National AssemblyStanding Committee on National Food Security and Research heldhere on Wednesday chaired by member parliament Javed Iqbal War-riach. Federal Secretary Ministry of National Food and Security andResearch Shafqat Hussain Naghmi informed the committee thatPrime Minister had already approved the reinstatement of 269 sackedcontract and regular employees of PARC but his minister Mir IsrarUllah Zehri stopped the restoration process of sack employees andasked that Board of Governance should be allowed to decide the fateof employees. He said that now the Board of Governance has decidedto re-send the case to the prime minister with some objections.“PARC Board of Governance has no right to roll back Prime minister’sorder and i must say that the order of prime minister’s regarding therestoration of 269 sacked employees should be implemented in letterand spirit,” said the secretary, adding that the recommendations ofBoard of Governance have no significance against the prime minis-ter’s order that was why he had written descending note. The commit-tee also approved the proposed amendments in seed act, 1976 toincorporate increasing role of private sector by the registration ofseed companies, seed dealers and seed processing units and to en-hance penalties to curb the sale of sub-standard seed in the market.

Name’s Bond, Retail Bondg KESC launches Rs2b utility sector retail bond issue

Companies sufferdue to cyber crimes

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The unwillingness of cyber-crime victims to pur-sue cases is the major hurdle in the way of inves-tigations and action against hackers andcriminals in the country.This was stated by the President Pakistan Infor-mation Security Association (PISA) and formeradditional director general FIA Ammar Jafferywhile speaking at the "Information Security Con-ference" via Skype in connection with CONNECT2012 at Karachi Expo Centre on Wednesday.He said that as much as 200 cases were reportedfor cyber-crimes including hacking of website,tracing of emails, frauds through internet andmobile phones during 2011.He pointed out that most of the cyber-crime vic-tims do not report the incident of internet mis-use to investigators due to several reasonsincluding fear of police, black mailing and per-sonal secrets.Jaffery said that cyber-crimes are on the rise,causing colossal damages to the victim compa-nies and individuals in the country. He notedwith pleasure that FIA has revived Cyber Secu-rity Task Force to deal with computer basedcrimes. "Use of forensics science system canhelp a lot in effectively detecting and curbingcyber-crimes", he added.He underlined the need for creating awarenessamong the mass especially the users of Internetabout the availability of legal means to try thehackers and misuse of cyber facilities.Quoting the official of Internet search engineGoogle, he said the Pakistan is among thosethree countries in the world that are shy of usingInternet for trading activities. As much as 190countries in the world are using it.

PRO 24-05-2012_Layout 1 5/24/2012 1:12 AM Page 2

news

Thursday, 24 May, 2012

03

Wateen Telecom wins PakistanAdvertisers Society Award LAHORE: Wateen Telecom, recently rankedas Pakistan’s No. 1 wireless broadbandprovider by the PTA, was recently awarded thePakistan Advertisers Society award for best ad-vertisement in the 'Computer and Internet Cat-egory'. The award was presented at a ceremonyheld at the Expo Centre in Karachi on Friday,and attended by representatives of the coun-try’s leading national and multinationalbrands. Wateen beat Wi-Tribe and Qubee whowere also nominated in this category. Thejudges for the event included stalwarts frommedia, advertising agencies, and marketingrepresentatives from leading organizations andfaculty members from the top universities inthe country.

Landmark achieved inrepairing extra high voltagepower transformers

LAHORE: WAPDA Power Transformer Engi-neering Services Unit (PTESU) of PakistanWAPDA Foundation has achieved a landmarkby reclaiming extra high voltage 515 kilovolt(KV) transformer in their Workshop. The re-claimed transformer is now successfully oper-ating and transmitting electricity to theNational Grid. Such a colossal task of repairinghigh voltage power transformer was under-taken for the first time in the history of Pak-istan. Besides building the in-house capacity,the said reclamation also helped save Rs.200million – the cost of a new transformer. Thesaid transformer was originally installed atBarotha Power Complex where it developed aserious fault. The preliminary inspection at siterevealed the burning and damage of tap wind-ing, whereas the adjoining parts were also af-

fected by the heating effect. Resultantly thetransformer became inoperative. Since the req-uisite facilities of reclamation and testing werenot available at Barotha Power Complex, it wasshifted to PTESU Workshop at Lahore wherethe engineers and staff, after discussing its de-sign, modus operandi for repair, improvisation,testing and other technical problems unprecen-dently repaired this high voltage (about 2.3times of previous voltage) transformer.

Qatar Airways launchesflights to Iraq

ERBIL: Qatar Airways has extended its MiddleEast footprint to Iraq with today’s launch ofscheduled flights to the northern city of Erbil. TheDoha-based airline is operating four-flights-a-week non-stop on the route – the first of two newIraqi services being launched within two weeks.Effective June 7, Qatar Airways will start flights tothe capital Baghdad, also operating four-times-a-week. Both the Erbil and Baghdad services arebeing operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-classconfiguration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132in Economy. Qatar Airways Senior Vice-PresidentGCC, Levant, Iran, Iraq and Indian Sub continentFathi Al Shehab was onboard inaugural flight QR446 which arrived at Erbil International Airport

to a traditional water salute welcome followed byan airport ceremony attended by local officials.

Royal Palm Golf Coursegets top ranking LAHORE: In a periodic review of Golf Coursesaround the world carried out by Golf Digest underthe label,Planet Golf,the Royal Palm Golf andCountry Club Golf Course has been ranked as thebest golf course in Pakistan.(Ref Golf Digest,May2012,vol 63,no 5,page 124).The ranking of RoyalPalm Golf Course is a part of the individual rank-ings of golf courses in 203 countries based on alarge global panel survey involving 609 pan-elists,11426 individual course evaluations,withinput from 30 international editions of Golf Di-gest. A significant feature that emerged throughthis survey was that growth of golf in USA hasstalled and in 2011 there was a net loss of 140courses in America.The survey also highlightsthat,internationally,a lot of exciting new promi-nent golf courses have come up,like Yas Links inAbu Dhabi,Barnbough Lost Farm inAustralia,Castle Stuart in Scotland,Black Moun-tain in Thailand and many others.Then there areother countries which have joined the league ofgolf nations by adding their first golf course andinclude Belarus,Equatorial Guinea andSudan.However some countries still have no golfcourse,the most populous being Iraq(32 millioninhabitants) and Yemen(24 million).The surveyalso states that Planet Golf is a world of 32,515 golfcourses,played and beloved by 60 million peoplewho are proud to call themselves golfers. As forRoyal Palm Golf Course,it has played host to nu-merous national and regional golf tournamentsincluding the National Amateur,PakistanOpen,SAARC Golf Champioship.In these compe-titions ,national teams and players of South Asiaparticipated.Soon Royal Palm hopes to host theAsian Tour Event in Lahore.

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Bata (Pak) Limited 620.97 639.00 630.00 636.36 15.39 57Mithchells Fruit 236.76 248.59 248.00 248.46 11.70 594Shezan Inter. 202.93 213.07 212.00 213.07 10.14 71,865Colgate Palmolive 950.00 970.00 950.00 957.00 7.00 52Wyeth Pak Limited 819.00 850.00 810.00 824.00 5.00 492

Major Losers

Unilever FoodXD 3090.00 3090.00 3000.00 3000.00 -90.00 33UniLever PakXD 7200.00 7230.00 7060.00 7113.29 -86.71 18Pak.Int.Cont SD 160.28 159.00 152.27 152.68 -7.60 7,874Philip Morris Pak. 144.00 143.99 139.00 139.46 -4.54 4,563Island Textile 194.03 190.00 190.00 190.00 -4.03 1

Volume Leaders

Bank Al-Falah 17.24 17.90 16.90 17.77 0.53 16,878,509P.T.C.L.A 16.02 16.05 15.27 15.82 -0.20 15,676,232D.G.K.Cement 41.92 42.19 40.70 41.37 -0.55 14,968,563TRG Pakistan Ltd. 3.54 4.34 3.52 4.22 0.68 14,702,434Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.91 17.19 16.39 16.49 -0.42 11,958,473

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 91.9837UK Pound 144.6076Japanese Yen 1.1579Euro 116.2766

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 93.00 93.60Euro 116.06 117.45Great Britain Pound 144.97 146.68Japanese Yen 1.1593 1.1728Canadian Dollar 89.78 91.34Hong Kong Dollar 11.81 12.01UAE Dirham 25.21 25.48Saudi Riyal 24.71 24.95

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

PAKISTAN Stocks closed lower on amidprofit-taking in stocks across the boardahead of federal budget announce-ments due early next month. Viewed by

Ahsan Mehanti, Director at Arif Habib Invest-ments Limited. The Karachi Stock Exchange(KSE) 100-share index declined 109.26 points or0.77 percent to close at 14,032.82 points as com-pared to 14,142.08 points of the previous ses-sion. The KSE 30-share index shed 79.40 pointsto close at 12,187.63 points as compared with12,267.03 points.

The market turnover was down to 175.620million shares after opening at 179.108 millionshares. The overall market capitalization de-clined 0.04 percent and traded Rs 3.584 trillionas against Rs 3.611 trillion. Losers outnumberedgainers 114 to 151, while 78 stocks were un-changed. Mehanti added “Fall in global com-modities and stocks amid Greece debt crises andslowdown in the stock valuations.”

The KMI 30-share was plunged by 148.51points to close at 24,209.30 points from itsopening at 24,357.81 points. The KSE all-shareindex closed with a loss of 72.33 points to9,863.49 points as against 9,935.82 points.

Bank Al-Falah was the volume leader in theshare market with 16.878 million shares as itclosed at Rs 17.77after opening at Rs 17.24, up by53 paisas. P.T.C.L.A traded 15.676 million sharesas it closed at Rs 15.82 after opening Rs 16.02down by 20 paisas. D.G.K Cement traded 14.968million shares as it closed at Rs 41.37 from itsopening at Rs 41.92, decreasing Rs 55 paisas.TRG Pakistan Limited traded 14.702 millionshares and closed at Rs 4.22 as against its open-ing at Rs 4.22, increase by Rs 68 paisas. Jahangir

Siddiqui Company traded 11.958 million sharesas it closed at Rs 16.49 as compared to its open-ing at Rs 16.91, decreasing Rs 50 paisas.

He added that the limited foreign interest,security concerns in the city, uncertainty overfederal budget announcements for corporatesector played a catalyst role in bearish senti-ments at KSE despite hopes for improvement inPak-US relations on progress over NATO sup-plies. On the future market, the turnover de-creased to 18.820 million against 20.879 millionshares of Tuesday.

The Bata Pakistan Limited and MithchellsFruit, up Rs 15.39 and Rs 11.70, led highest pricegainers while, Unilever Food XD and UnileverPakistan XD down Rs 90.00 and Rs 86.71 re-spectively, led the losers.TRADING TERmINALS Of TwO fIRmSDEACTIVATED fOR NON-COmPLIANCE:The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has deacti-vated all trading terminals of two listed firms fortheir non-compliance with the Capital AdequacyRequirements under Schedule 5 of the relevantregulations. The A.H.K.D. Securities and INVI-SOR Securities are the two companies which at-tracted the front regulator’s ire for failing tosubmit their bi-annual Net Capital Balance Cer-tificates within prescribed period.Schedule 2.1 of the Regulations Governing RiskManagement of the Exchange requires the listedfirms to submit their bi-annual Net Capital Bal-ance Certificates. The deactivation has beengiven affect from May 07 (2012).According to KSE, it may allow reactivation ofthe defaulting firms’ trading terminals underRegulation 44 (2) of the General Regulationsafter expiry of at least 10 business days of suchdeactivation. This, however, is subject to the re-moval of causes of such disciplinary actions bythe respective members, the regulator clarified.

KSE had a hug to bearPROFIT TAKING BEARS AND THEIR INTIMACY:WAKE uP!

SECP organisesawareness sessionfor journalists

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The Securities and Exchange Commis-sion of Pakistan (SECP) Wednesday or-ganized an awareness session here at alocal hotel to provide the journalists anoverview of its working.In the well-attended workshop, presen-tation were made by the senior officersof SECP to sensitize the journalists onimportant areas such as the reforms in-troduced in company registration andcompliance, mutual funds, Modarabas,investment banking and leasing, opera-tional structure of the stock exchanges,Central Depository Company (CDC), Na-tional Clearing Company of Pakistan(NCCP).The participants were also briefed on thereforms undertaken by the apex regula-tor over the past years and the SECP’sfuture market reform agenda.Shakil Chaudhary, head of SECP’s Mediaand Corporate Communications Depart-ment, said the journalists could aptly in-terpret and comment on thegovernment's policies and performanceif they were fully conversant with thefunctioning of the various governmentdepartments.He said this workshop was organized tobridge a longstanding communicationgap between the SECP and the media.

Rupee’s not doingtoo well in theneighbourhood eitherg Indian rupee plummets to historic

low against dollarNEW DELHI

ONLINE

The Indian rupee has continued its downward slide of the pastfew days and hit an all-time low against the dollar in early tradeon Wednesday. The Indian currency fell to 55.82 rupees againstthe US dollar, down from 55.39, Indian media reported. Theslide comes amid concerns that slowing growth and a high rateof inflation may hurt India's economy. Analysts said worriesabout a global economic slowdown had fanned those fears fur-ther. The Indian rupee has been dropping against the US dollarsince August last year, falling by almost 26% against the US cur-rency since then. Various reports have suggested that India'scentral bank, the Reserve Bank of India, could intervene by sell-ing dollars via state-run banks to arrest any further falls. IndianFinance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the govern-ment was taking a number of steps to arrest the volatility in theforeign exchange market and boost the rupee. Earlier thismonth, the central bank asked exporters to convert 50% of theirforeign exchange holdings into Indian rupees in an attempt toprop up the currency. It also said that exporters would only beallowed to buy foreign currency after using up all of the foreignexchange holdings in their accounts. However, these attemptshave so far not been able to stem the rupee's fall.

China approves loan forNeelum-Jhelum project

BEIJING

ONLINE

The Export-Import Bank of China has approved a US$448Mloan to fund construction of the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum hy-dropower project in Pakistan. According to newswire reports,the loan will help ensure the project is completed to schedulein 2016, after fears there may be a delay in construction iffunding was not approved. Back in 2008, project developer theWater and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) awarded aconsultancy contract for the project to a joint venture led byMWH and including local firms Nespak, ACE and NDC to-gether with Norplan of Norway. The project involves construc-tion of a concrete gravity diversion dam, headrace tunnel,surge chamber and underground powerhouse with four gener-ating units. TBM’s are being put to use on the build.

LAHORE: Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) is celebrating its 61st anniversary with

the name of Accountants Day. Flag hoisting ceremony was arranged today at ICMAP Lahore campus to celebrate the

Accountants Day.

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