The development of transparent and efficient securities market is one of the prime objectives of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Accordingly, Securities Market Division of the SECP took enforcement actions and penalized the market participants for non-compliance with the regulatory framework during the month of March. Subsequent to the onsite inspections, enforcement actions were taken against three brokerage houses of the Karachi Stock Exchange Limited. A penalty of Rs500,000 was imposed on KASB Securities Limited primarily for   failure to maintain segregation of clients’ assets by the brokerage house. Moreover, a   penalty of Rs100,000 was imposed on   DJM Securities (Private) Limited  because of  irregularities identified in the calculation of net capital balance. Furthermore, a warning letter was issued to Time Securities (Private) Limited in the same context. In addition, 12 orders were passed for late filing of re...

With year-end right around the corner, participation remained dull at the bourse. The benchmark index rose by mere 3 points to close at 25370.03 level compared to 25366.69 points of the previous day. Equity dealer at Topline Securities Asad Siddiqui said positive momentum continued in the cement sector and specially in FCCL, out of 17 listed stocks in the sector 12 closed in the green zone while one remained unchanged.  On the other hand, profit-taking was seen in oil and gas sector while some pressure was seen in fertilizer stocks barring Engro, which closed with gains of 3pc. FCCL, PTC and PAEL made up for the top 3 volume leaders with trade of 16.7m, 10.2m and 9.7m shares, respectively. KSE-Allshare index shed by 30.02 points or 0.16 percent to end the day at 18690.70 points, KSE-30 share index off by 8.19 points or 0.04 percent to close the day at 18941.99 points while KMI-30 share index misplaced 69.59 points or 0.16 percent to end the day at 42739.21 points.   T...

The Karachi stock market on the last trading day of the week Friday made an intraday high of 25,000 points for the first time in the history of Pakistan and closed below the said level with a rise of 70 points. Analysts cited hopes for improved Indo-Pak bilateral relations and interest of international investors in setting up power plants in Pakistan as the main reasons for the positive trend. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 69.86 points or 0.28 percent to close at 24,870.55 points as compared to previous session’s 24,800.69 points. The KSE 30-share index rose 10.48 points to close at 18,624.99 points as against 18,614.514 points.   “After testing the psychological level of 25,000 points the index was seen scaling back to close at 24,870 points,” said Habib Metropolitan Financial Services’ Muhammad Sultan. “During the second session the index pared gains posted earlier in the day, largely driven by profit-taking by risk averse investor...

The Bank of Punjab (BoP) has posted 146 percent yearly increase to Rs 1.00 billion profit after tax (PAT) in first half of 2013 as compared to Rs 405.5 million PAT in the same period of last year. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) increased to Rs 1.90 in first half of 2013 as compared to EPS of 77 paisas in the corresponding period of 2012, according to the company’s notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday. The company announced its financial results for half year and second quarter period that ended on June 30, 2013, where the company’s board of directors has not recommended final cash dividend and bonus shares to its shareholders for the half-year period that ended on June 30, 2013. However, on quarterly basis the BoP witnessed a massive increase in profitability by 155 percent to Rs 672.9 million PAT with EPS of Rs 1.90 in second quarter (April to June) of 2013 as compared to Rs 268.1 million PAT with EPS of 51 paisas in the corresponding period of last years....

Karachi Stocks closed record high led by second and third tier stocks on strong valuations. Sentiments remained bullish ahead of quarter-end earning announcements due next week. The Karachi stock market benchmark KSE-100 share index added 22.59 points or 0.12 percent to end the day at 18,636.03 points compared to 18,613.44 points of the previous day.  Stock analyst Ahsan Mehanti said consolidation in blue chips stocks continued amid concerns for fall in global commodities. Strong data on urea, DAP and cement sales for Mar ‘13, speculations ahead of upcoming SBP policy announcement and expectations of higher LDI revenues for telecom sector played a catalyst role in higher close at KSE amid concerns for rising circular debt issues in energy sector outcome for CCP levy on fertilizer companies on collusion and increasing urea prices. KSE-Allshare index up by 10.56 points or 0.08 percent to end the day at 13,209.70 points, KSE-30 share index increased by 25.38 points or 0.17 ...

The Karachi stock market finally managed to close above the psychological level of 17,000 points on Thursday due to heavy buying driven by good corporate results. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 147.69 points or 0.87 percent to close at 17,056.36 points as compared to 16,908.67 points of the previous session. The KSE 30-share index increased 125.28 points to close at 13,931.66 points as compared with 13,806.38 points of the previous session.   “Finally the market managed to close above 17,000 points level,” said Topline Sec dealer Samar Iqbal. “Institutional buying and good corporate results helped the equity prices to improve by approximately 1.0 percent.” Higher than expected earning announcement by Engro Foods helped the market sentiment, she said and added that second-tier cement stocks performed well as investors are expecting healthy profits for the quarter ending in December.   The market turnover went up by 24.38 percent and...

A meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) headed by the Chairman, Commissioner and other senior officials of SECP was held with the Board of Directors, Management and senior members of the Karachi Stock Exchange. The meeting discussed important capital market development matters and measures for enhancing activity at the Exchange by supporting retail participation. The apex and front line regulators reviewed various international best practices for the overall growth of the market and deliberated upon areas of investor protection, expansion of market outreach, new product development in equity, debt and derivative segments, activation of leverage products for improved liquidity, effective risk management and market monitoring and surveillance etc. While highlighting recent reforms in the market including revamping of capital gain tax regime, introduction of revised Code of Corporate Governance and demutualization of stock exchanges, the SECP Ch...

The capital markets in Pakistan offer transparency, best price and efficient execution coupled with attraction for foreigners as equity market trades at discount as compared to regional valuations. Based on PE (price earning), PBV (price by volume) and payout, the Pakistani capital markets trades at lower levels as compared to regional markets. Such attractiveness must catch the eyes of foreign fund managers to explore the opportunities offered by the Pakistani capital markets.                                               Mr. Shahid Naseem and Mr. Imran Inayat Butt, of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, said this while making a presentation this at an institute organized by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. The SECP s...

In line with its efforts to strengthen the capital market in Pakistan by further developing the derivatives market segment and providing investors with more diversified range of investment/hedging alternatives, the SECP has approved the Regulations Governing Index Option Contracts of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). These regulations have been framed in line with best international practices to provide a framework for the launch of trading in cash-settled index option contracts. An option contract essentially gives its holder a right, but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying asset on a future date at a predetermined price. Based on his expectations and prevailing market conditions, the option holder can either exercise this right and book profits from buying/selling the underlying at a favorable price than the market price or let the right lapse if he thinks the same will not benefit him. Like other derivative instruments, options are also tradable and the option ...

Financial Results: Pakistan Refinery Limited Thirds quarter ended March 31, 2012 Loss per Share is PKR (2.56) Financial year ended Jun 30, 2012 Profit before Taxation is PKR. 456 Million Loss after Taxation is PKR. (89) Million Nine Months ended March 2012

The Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) Law has been approved in a joint session of the Parliament today.  This landmark achievement was long awaited since the passing of the bill by the  National Assembly in October 2009.This law is part of the SECP’s efforts to bring about structural and regulatory changes through legal reforms in the non bank financial market and the capital market. Other draft laws awaiting approval include Securities Law, Futures Trading Law, SECP Law and Corporate Rehabilitation Law. The  Demutualization  law provides a framework for the corporatization, demutualization and integration of the stock exchanges and had been drafted after consensus with all the stakeholders. The law  requires the stock exchanges to be demutualized within 119 days of its promulgation in line with pre-defined timelines specified for completion of various milestones involved in the demutualization exercise. Presently th...

As part of its mandate to provide for increased investor protection and nurture a more informed and vigilant investors’ community, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has approved the waiver of monthly subscription fee for short messaging service (SMS) alert facility provided to investor account holders by the Central Depository Company (CDC). This facility gives investors an added level of convenience by providing account information via cell phones through SMS alerts. Alerts about activities such as transfer of securities, credit of corporate entitlements, pledge transactions, listing/delisting of securities in the Central Depository System etc., are provided. The SMS Alert Facility at CDC complements the Unique Identification Number (UIN) Information System being offered by the National Clearing Company which provides investors with a real-time access to monitor their trading activities executed through their UINs. These reform measures will a...

As part of its mandate to develop the debt capital market in Pakistan, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has approved a regulatory framework to facilitate inter-exchange trades in listed term finance certificates (TFCs). A broker-to-broker (BTB) functionality has now been introduced at the Bonds Automated trading System (BATS). Earlier last year, BATS was revamped along the lines of Bloomberg-based E-Bond with various system enhancements aimed at facilitating price discovery in listed debt instruments and price negotiation between market participants in line with international standards. This system, however, was equipped only to support trading between brokers/investors of a stock exchange where such TFCs were listed and did not facilitate inter-exchange trading in TFCs listed on other stock exchanges. The newly approved BTB functionality will enable brokers to settle their inter-exchange trades directly with the National Clearing Company of Paki...

As part of its mandate to develop the capital market in Pakistan, the SECP has approved regulations governing exchange traded funds (ETFs) for the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). The trading in ETFs at the stock exchanges will provide investors with alternative investment avenues while allowing diversified portfolio of securities that track a benchmark index and improve liquidity in the market. Internationally, ETFs are among the fastest growing investment products which due to a growing demand are being customized to cover specific arrays of regions, sectors, stocks, commodities, bonds, futures and other asset classes. The approved regulations will enable the stock exchange to list and regulate trading in ETFs which at their core are portfolios of securities that are traded like individual stocks on an exchange. The regulations broadly cover the listing procedure for ETFs, trading and clearing and settlement of ETF units, disclosure requirements for asset man...

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sindh taking cognisance of misappropriation of funds of investors by some unscrupulous brokers of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has hinted at stringent measures against them and recovering the embezzled amounts. A decision to this affect was unveiled during a meeting held Thursday between the NAB and KSE. The NAB team was headed by NAB DG Maj (r) Shabbir Ahmed and accompanied by his team members, Director Ghulam Farooq, Deputy Director Ahmed Raza Tahir, Consultant Qudsia Kadri and Investigation Officer Rizwan Shah. The KSE team was headed by KSE Chairman Muneer Kamal and accompanied by KSE Managing Director Nadeem Naqvi, KSE Deputy Managing Director Haroon Askari and several other members of the KSE board. The KSE management was apprised that NAB is conducting criminal inquiries against five former brokerage houses and their accused directors on the charges of cheating public at large. These brokerage houses included Eastern Ca...

We preview Kapco's 2QFY12 results (scheduled to be announced on February 15, 2012) and expect the company to report net profit of PKR1,380mn (EPS PKR1.57, down 24% YoY), gross profit of PKR2,663mn (up 4% YoY) and top line of PKR25,596mn (up 85% YoY). We also expect the company to announce cash dividend of PKR3/share. Target Price and Price catalyst ·          June-12 price target: PKR50.5/share on account of DDM based methodology. ·          Catalyst: Rupee devaluation and resolution of circular debt. (Source: Foundation Securities)

TODAY`S BOARD MEETING`S OF COMPANY SCHEDULED ON T I M E P L A C E TO CONSIDER 10. Pakistan Refinery Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 9:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 11. Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:00 a.m. Karachi Annual Accounts for the year endedDecember 31, 2011 12. JS Growth Fund 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 13. JS Investments Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 14. Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Annual Accounts for the year endedDecember 31, 2011...