Forex Update:
KARACHI, May 16: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 99.9 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 10:35 PST)
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May 162013
May 152013
The Sindh government has apologized to the ECP on failing to hold the scheduled re-polls in 43 polling stations due to security concerns.
May 152013
KARACHI: KESC opened their campaign at the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Challenge Cup 2013 with a 1-0 win against Pakistan Police at the Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur, while Wapda thrashed Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) 3-0.
Despite the absence of two senior players, including captain Essa Khan and striker Mohammad Rasool, Abdus Salam helped the team’s cause with a 21st-minute goal.
However, KESC coach Hassan Baloch said Rasool was missed but he was hopeful the player would recover in a few days and play the remaining matches.
“I’m happy with the opening match, but my goal is to take the team to the final this year as well,” Baloch told The Express Tribune. “Essa is injured and he will take time to recover, but I’m hopeful that Rasool can join us in a couple of days.”
Talking about his team’s chances, Baloch said defending champions KRL will be a threat. “I believe our main competition will be KRL. The players they have benched are better than mine. But I will be relying on strikers like Auranzeb Senior, Salam and Abdul Rehman to shine during the tournament.”
In the other match of the day, Wapda’s new addition, Jadeed Khan scored twice to ensure a winning start for the team.
Jadeed scored the first goal against SSGC in the fifth minute before Muhammad Afzal doubled the lead in the 58th. Jadeed completed his brace in the 68th minute to put the game out of SSGC’s reach.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2013.
May 142013
KARACHI: KESC suffered a major blow when club captain Essa Khan confirmed he will miss the National Football Challenge Cup 2013 and was unlikely to feature in this season’s Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) as well due to a knee injury.
“A footballer’s greatest asset is his knee,” said Essa. “Many footballers retired because they couldn’t recover from a knee injury. But I’m hopeful that won’t be the case with me. It is a disappointment that I will not be able to play in the Challenge Cup. I might miss PPFL matches as well.”
However, Essa said he will be available to serve the club as an assistant coach and strategist.
KESC finished runners-up in the tournament in the previous two editions with KRL lifting the trophies on both occasions.
They will play their opening Group B match against Police at the Dring Football Stadium today.
Meanwhile, Army’s Jaffar Khan will miss out due to a knee injury. Army play Bhatti United FC in their Group C match today.
The tournament features 16 teams — the top eight PPFL clubs with the remaining coming from the Division B league.
The Challenge Cup is an annual tournament, dubbed as the curtain-raiser for the PPFL.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2013.
May 142013
KARACHI: Pakistan announced Tuesday that its 21 cricketers on central contracts would get a 15 percent salary increase and a 10 percent rise in match fees this year.
The contracts, up for renewal in January, were finally handed to players hours before they left for Britain early Tuesday.
Dashing all-rounder Shahid Afridi was lucky to retain his place in the “A” category after being dropped from the one-day squad for next month’s Champions Trophy in England and after retiring from Test cricket in 2010.
Test and one-day captain Misbah-ul Haq, Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Younis Khan also retained their “A” category status.
The Pakistan Cricket Board keeps 21 players on central contracts in three categories, marked by three different scales for retainers and match fees.
“For the second consecutive year the players’ retainership fee has been increased by 15 percent,” a board statement said.
Spearhead Umar Gul, batsman Umar Akmal and spinner Abdul Rehman were demoted to “B” category after lacklustre performances last year.
Others in the “B” category are Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Shoaib Malik and Nasir Jamshed.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal regained his central contract after losing out last year and was placed in the “C” category along with Mohammad Irfan, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Faisal Iqbal and Ahmad Shahzad.
“The Test match fee for all categories has also been increased as well as the match fee for all formats by 10 percent from 2012,” the board said.
The increases give “A” category players a monthly salary of 359,375 rupees ($3,600) and a Test match fee of 440,000 rupees ($4,400).
“B” category players will get a monthly salary of 251,562 rupees and players in the “C” category, 143,750 rupees.
May 132013
KARACHI: Karachi stocks hit an all-time high Monday following Nawaz Sharif’s strong victory in landmark elections, which revived hopes the steel tycoon’s pro-business agenda could spark an economic revival.
The benchmark index of top 100 shares rose 1.6 per cent to 20,232 points in early trade, surpassing the 20,000 mark for the first time, after Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) emerged with a clear lead over its rivals.
The election results defied analysts’ predictions of a weak parliament as the PML-N looked able to form a government without the help of its traditional rival the Pakistan Peoples Party and new challenger Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
“We were fearing a hung parliament and thus a weaker and unstable government would come into power as a result of the elections,” said Mohammad Sohail, the chief of Topline Securities, a leading brokerage house in Karachi.
Investors are hopeful of an economic revival under Sharif, whose pro-business policies earned him a good reputation among traders and industrialists during his two previous tenures in the 1990s.
“He liberalised the economy by launching a privatisation programme and liberalised the financial sector allowing foreign investors to step into Pakistani capital markets,” Sohail said.
Though his privatisation agenda was never fully implemented, Sharif has promised in early interviews to pick up where he left off.
May 122013
KARACHI: ‘The customer is king,’ is what they say. After all, it is the customer who pays your salary and helps you live. Customers are at the centre of all business activity, and help us understand where we go wrong as producers and marketers. Therefore, the easiest way to grow a business today is to focus on your customers.
The key is to hold on to the best strategy. That may be acquisition – buying out another business in the same market; or value addition – increasing the average value of each product by getting each existing customer to spend more on alternate product and service offerings.
Increase customer frequency by giving more choices to spend. Acquisition is effective as a long-term strategy, as it increases resources quickly, but is an expensive option and never easy. Only attempt this when you get loyal customers with the deal who will continue spending on your products. If money is tight, stick to what you are good at – focusing on existing customers. Start-ups fail these days as entire businesses are geared only to bring in new clients: instead, try and recognise a niche, which you can later exploit.
An increase in customer spending amounts to customers doing more business with you, and the customer who spends more on your product stays with you longer. Some of the best ways to ensure this includes staying in contact, working on your after-sales service and feedback analysis, creating convenience, making your product accessible at all times and building personal relationships.
Customers providing you with the most income are the ones who account for the highest turnover on a regular basis. Anyone who is soaking up a lot of your time resources is not the right target.
Corporations have been trying to find ways to improve services through process innovation rather than people innovation, where intellectual capacities diminish and people are not trained well enough to feel proud of their training and to take it to the end customers. Service quality tools are worthless if you do not have happy customers.
The writer comments on international relations and public policy
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2013.
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May 102013
KARACHI:
The Wheat Traders Association of Pakistan (WTAP) terming a report about potential shortage of wheat, increase in prices and heavy buying by exporters and traders incorrect claimed that the current volume of wheat export is negligible.
WTAP Secretary Saleem Ahmed Nooruddin in a press statement emphasised that currently minor quantities of wheat are exported in containers or small random ships which are negligible in the overall wheat scenario of Pakistan or its trade.
“Our members report that they are not aware of any heavy buying by stockists or exporters as Pakistan is currently completely priced-out of the export market”. Saleem further stated that WTAP would welcome any statistics or names of Vessels for export buying.
Small negligible tonnages hardly constitute wheat exports, he asserted.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2013.
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May 092013
KARACHI: The bourse continued to heat up with election fever, with the market taking a one way street to record breaking highs. Foreign funds continued to flood into the market, with millions of dollars worth of securities snapped up by offshore investors who seem particularly optimistic on Pakistan’s economic prospects post elections.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index jumped 0.97% or 188.91 points to end at the 19,661.46 points level. Trade volumes were lower at 234 million shares, compared with Wednesday’s tally of 252 million shares, and the value of shares traded during the day clocked in at Rs8.14 billion.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs787.68 million worth of securities, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
“Like yesterday, Mansha [Group] stocks (MCB Bank, DG Khan Cement) were in demand, with MCB Bank closing at its upper circuit as the group is anticipated to be the largest beneficiary of a regime change,” reported Elixir Securities analyst Muhammad Raza Rawjani. “Cements, which had been laggards until last week, played catch up; with the sector gaining 1-3% today in prices. Engro Corporation gained on rumours of buying interest of state institutions,” he added.
“Pakistan Petroleum was the second largest positive contributor to the index, rallying 1.5% as participants appreciated the company’s first mover’s advantage of exploring tight and shale gas potential in Pakistan,” reported Ovais Ahsan from JS Global Capital.
Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the volume leader with 21.64 million shares, gaining Rs0.95 to finish at Rs11.45. It was followed by Lotte Chemical with 15.56 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs7.80; and TRG Pakistan with 14.93 million shares, gaining Rs0.68 to close at Rs9.46.
“FIIs continued to be aggressive buyers in the market, trumping the cautious, wait-and-see approach of local institutions,” observed Ahsan. “The market continues to be dominated by foreign bulls, and a relatively peaceful election will open the gates for a bigger herd of them,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2013.
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May 082013
Forex Update:
KARACHI, May 08: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 99.8 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 15:32 PST)
Note: We do not receive Foreign Exchange Rates regularly.
The last received rates are …
