The Karachi stock market failed to sustain previous session’s bullish sentiment and closed in the red zone on Friday as investors went for profit-taking on account of political uncertainty over Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) decision to form its own government in the Punjab. Analysts said that the index failed to capitalise initial gain of 63 points due to prevalence of uncertainty among investors. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index decreased by 100.64 points or 1.56 percent to close at 6,340.36 points as compared to 6,441.00 points traded in the previous session. The KSE 30-share index also shed 148.88 points and closed at 6,831.32 points as compared with 6,980.20 points of the previous session. KMI 30 index lost 184.46 points to close at 8,789.70 points as against 8,974.16 points of the previous session. The market turnover went down by 19.96 percent and traded 221.52 million shares as compared to 276.79 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market...

Bloomberg Report Pakistan’s three stock exchanges will seek a review of a decision by a regulator to impose penalties for last year’s trading curbs. “We have decided to file an appeal,” Karachi Stock Exchange Spokeswoman Anita Mirza said by telephone today, without giving details. The fines were the first action by the regulator against the bourses after the restriction. Competition Commission of Pakistan imposed a 6 million rupee ($74,626) penalty on the Karachi Stock Exchange, it said in a statement yesterday. It also fined the Lahore Stock Exchange 1 million rupees and the smaller Islamabad bourse 200,000 rupees. “It is a healthy sign for the market development,” said Habib -ur-Rehman, chief executive officer at Atlas Asset Management Ltd. in Karachi, who manages $45 million worth of assets. “This practice of unnecessary intervention in market should be discouraged, it has harmed the market in many ways.” The curbs, which had prevented the benchmark Karachi 100 Index from trading be...

KARACHI: IGI Investment Bank a part of the IGI Financial Services Group and New Jubilee Life Insurance Company (NJI Life) marked the beginning of a long lasting relationship by signing an agreement at the IGI Financial Services head office. According to the agreement, NJI Life will be joining hands with IGI Investment Bank to provide bancassurance services whereby its customers will have the privilege of availing innovative and custom made life insurance products tailored by NJI Life. Present at the ceremony, Mr. Javed Ahmed the Managing Director and CEO of NJI Life stated, “We are honored to provide our life insurance services and products to the customers of IGI Investment Bank, one of the country’s leading investment banks. Being the pioneers of bancassurance in Pakistan, we are confident that we will provide the highest level of services and guidance to our new bancassurance partners- IGI Investment Bank” Also present at the ceremony, Mr. Samir Ahmed Managing Director and CEO of IG...

Pakistan stocks rose the most in nine months after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pledged to reinstate Supreme Court justices fired under military rule in 2007, ending a confrontation with the opposition. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other deposed judges will be restored on March 21, Gilani said in a 6 a.m. televised address in Islamabad, meeting the demands of thousands of protesters who are challenging President Asif Ali Zardari. Authorities also lifted a ban on rallies and releases detained protesters. The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index rose 313.07, or 5.4 percent, to 6,063.54 at the 3:30 p.m. local time close, the most since June 24, 2008. Oil & Gas Development Co. and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. led gains. “The stock market could gain 10 percent in the next few days since prices are attractive,” said Yasir Qadri, who manages the equivalent of $124.4 million as chief executive officer at MCB Asset Management Co. in Karachi. The judges’ issue “was a cloud hangi...

ISLAMABAD: Adnan Afridi, Managing Director, Karachi Stock Exchange, has been elected as Chairman of the Executive Committee of South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE). His election has taken place during the 8th Annual General Assembly meeting of the SAFE held in Abu Dhabi on March 11, 2009. Mr. Afridi’s election to the office of the Chairman of the Federation was proposed by Mr. Mahesh L. Soneji, ex-Chairman SAFE and MD/CEO Bombay Stock Exchange. He was unanimously elected by the votes of all the regional exchanges of various members comprising of the regional depositories and clearing companies whose representatives were present during the aforesaid General Assembly meeting. Afridi was congratulated by all the representative of the member entities. The Members expected that the SAFE would progress further under the dynamic leadership of Afridi.

KARACHI: United Bank Limited’s profit after tax stood at Rs 8.4 billion in 2008, translating into earnings per share of Rs. 8.26, said a press release issued by the bank. The bank achieved consolidated profit before tax of Rs 14.1 billion in 2008, 2 percent higher than last year’s profit. Profitability in 2008 was partly impacted by the decision to charge 50 percent of the impairment loss on the equities portfolio amounting to Rs 1.88 billion against this year’s P&L statement, although the State Bank of Pakistan has allowed banks to defer booking the loss till 2009. Without the impairment loss, the bank’s profit before tax would have reached Rs 15.9 billion, 15 percent above last year’s profit, said a press release issued by the bank. Turmoil in the global financial markets in the later part of the year resulted in a marked slowdown in business momentum overseas. Net interest income before provisions rose to Rs 28.8 billion, which is 16 percent higher than last year, whereas non-in...

By Saad Hasan KARACHI: NIB Bank on Monday announced a loss of Rs7.5 billion for 2008 after making heavy provisioning for bad loans in its books in a bid to raise prospects for this year, President and CEO Khwaja Iqbal Hassan said. Total credit provisioning of Rs9.2bn and goodwill impairment loss of Rs1 billion on account of acquisition of PICIC reflect the bank’s very conservative calculations, he added. “This means we have taken the complete hit and from now on we will be posting profits,” he said, adding that Jan-March quarter of 2009 is already showing signs of good result. “We also expect recovery of Rs6bn from bad loans in next couple of years.” The loss also includes investments inherited from PICIC. This result is the first after NIB completed acquisition of PICIC’s insurance and asset management companies and PICIC Commercial Bank in 2007. Talking to a group of journalists here, Hassan said now the merged entities have been aligned together to focus on NIB’s strategy of segment...