ISE annual meet elects 5 new member directors

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) in its 20th annual meeting held elected five new member directors here.The newly elected five member directors included Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmad, Farrukh Yunus, Mian Hamayun Pervaiz, Wasimul Huque Malik and Syed Mukhtar Hiussain. However, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) would nominate the remaining four non-member directors, ISE officials told Geo News here. ISE Board of Directors comprises of five member and four non-member directors, while the 10th one is the ISE managing director himself.

Asian shares fall on miners; U.S. earnings awaited

SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares were mostly lower Monday as investors looked for Alcoa Inc. to kick off an expected rough earnings season later in the U.S., and with resource stocks under some early pressure.
Trading was quiet with Japanese markets shut for a public holiday; Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 2% with Korea's Kospi Composite lower by 1.6% and New Zealand's NZX-50 eking out a 0.1% gain.
"A string of bad data has nipped the New Year optimism in the bud," said Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Danica Hampton; "if you look at the data last week it's pretty terrible, so people will come back this week and decide the world is a pretty gloomy place again."
Asian shares were following a decline on Wall Street Friday, which came after data showed the U.S. economy shed 524,000 jobs in December, while the jobless rate jumped from a revised 6.8% to 7.2%; also, November payrolls were revised to reflect a fall of 584,000, from 533,000 initially.

Further downbeat news came Monday with the top executive at AutoNation Inc. saying the U.S. auto dealer would cut new-vehicle orders in half for the first quarter; the company's national footprint and broad product line-up make it a key pointer for consumer sentiment on the U.S. auto industry.
Alcoa was due to report fourth quarter earnings later Monday, less than a week after the aluminum giant rattled Wall Street by unveiling a plan to cut more jobs, slash production and sell assets; the company, like other metals producers, has been hit hard by falling prices, waning consumption and rising stockpiles.
U.S. stock futures were mildly lower in screen trade.
In Sydney, mining stocks were down with BHP Billiton off 1.8% and Rio Tinto falling 3.9%; Rio said it was postponing its US$2.15 billion expansion of the Corumba iron ore mine in Brazil, "in response to the severe market downturn."
Baking company Goodman Fielder fell 5.3% in Australia after repeating it expected its first fiscal half net profit would be about 15% lower than a year earlier.
In Korea, banking and building stocks were lower again, amid concerns about their outlook; Shinhan Financial was down 2.0% and Daewoo Engineering off by 3.2%.
LG Display however had risen 4.0% on news it had inked a five-year deal to supply LCD panels to Apple Inc.
New Zealand shares were drifting in low-volume trade - the market's so quiet "it's like watching paint dry," said ABM Amro Craigs broker Bryon Burke; Michael Hill shares were 5.6% higher after falling last week on a profit warning.
In currency markets, the yen was higher on expectations for increased capital flows into the country, given measures being taken by authorities there, and given risk aversion; the U.S. dollar was at Y90.05 after falling early in Asia to Y89.93, down from Y90.30 late in New York on Friday, with the euro at Y120.57, from Y121.36 in New York.
The euro was lower, around $1.3886, with the European Central Bank expected to cut interest rates at its meeting later in the week.
Recent gains in the euro would retrace as worsening economic data would lead the ECB to cut rates, eroding the single currency's rate and yield differentials, said strategists at BNP Paribas, who looked for the central bank to ease 50 basis points; "we should not fall into the trap of expecting a higher euro/dollar on the back of rallying share prices as we see the correlation between equities and the euro reversing this year as the anticipated capital market rebound becomes U.S.-centric."
Westpac strategist Jonathan Cavenagh expected further declines in the dollar and euro against the yen; the dollar/yen "is a definite sell, it's going to head lower on the day," he said.
Spot gold was trading 35 cents an ounce lower from its New York close, now at $853.25 a troy ounce; HSBC though raised its average 2009 gold forecast to $825 an ounce from $800 previously, and lifted its 2010 call to $775 from $725, saying gold would attract safe-haven buying amid economic woes.
February Nymex crude oil was 54 cents lower on Globex at $40.29 a barrel after dropping 2.1% in New York on Friday; Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch and Associates was anticipating "further slippage to the low-to-mid-$30 area with selling possibly accelerating with the approach of the February contract" expiry on Jan. 20.

Kamran Mirza elected KSE new Chairman

KARACHI: Kamran Mirza has been elected the new Chairman of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE).A joint meeting of KSE new and old Board members held here re-elected Kamran Mirza as its new chairman, as SECP had not appointed its new non-member directors, while after one KSE director, Munir Ladha’s resignation, Amin Yusuf was elected new member in his place. Besides, the new members of the Board have assumed their responsibility from Friday.

KSE gains 69 points to close at 6143

KARACHI: Profit taking eroded morning gains in leading scrips at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), but 100-Index surged by 68.94 points to close at 6143.81 on Friday, dealers said.The turnover volume dropped to 145.449 million shares as 171sustained losses and 88 scrips recorded gains while 3 remained unchanged.A dealer at a leading brokerage house said that the market was bullish in the morning and Index touched as high as 6243, but slipped buy 100 points on profit taking.The market capitalization was improved by Rs 15 billion to Rs1.936 trillion.OGDC was the volume leader with a turnover of 11.342 million shares followed by PTCL 10.091 million shares, TRG Pakistan 7.484million shares, HUBCO 7.428 million shares and WorldCall Telecom 6.592million shares.D G Khan Cement closed at Rs21.33, NIB Bank Rs5.92, OGDC Rs54.02, PTCL Rs16.45, TRG Pakistan Rs2.68, HUBCO Rs17.88 and WorldCall Telecom Rs4.26.Attock Petroleum recorded the highest gain of Rs 7.93 to close at Rs166.66 followed by Millat Tractors which went up by Rs 7.92 to Rs166.51while Siemens Pak dipped by Rs 48 to Rs922 and Pak Services Ltd went down by Rs 17.92 to Rs333.22.

Mixed trends in Asian markets

TOKYO: Stock markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong experienced varying fortunes on Wednesday, with the Nikkei 225 hitting a seven-day winning streak while the Hang Seng index slid by 3.4 per cent. Much of the Nikkei's boost came from a further weakening of the yen against the dollar, which is now at its highest point against the Japanese currency since December 1st. This helped shares in exporters to advance, Reuters reported. Further speculation that Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus package could lead the US out of recession also led to gains. Over the last seven days, the benchmark Nikkei index has climbed by 8.5 per cent - its first positive week-long run since 2000, the news agency said. In Hong Kong, shares prices fell, with China Construction Bank (CCB) and a number of telecoms stocks leading the retreat. CCB dropped by 8.8 per cent after Bank of America sold its stake in the institution. Meanwhile, China Mobile declined after Beijing awarded it a 3G licence for an untested, domestically-developed network that is expected to be more complicated and expensive to establish than proven technology being used by others.

KSE appears back on track, index breaches 6000

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) today opened positive, as the investors were seen jostling for buying and selling of shares, which saw the KSE-100 index moving upward from the beginning.The market on Tuesday, the second day of the week went on trading with high sentiments and the benchmark KSE-100 index was seen shot up by 100 points breaching the psychological barrier of 6000 points until the filing of this report.Analysts told that the economy of the country showing signs of improvement and some positive announcements of the finance advisor made the difference in the market, as the investors shedding their weariness felt more confident and started taking interest in trading.

KSE trade week begins in upbeat mood

KARACHI: Pakistan shares gained for a second straight trading session on Monday, adding 2.14 percent as investors eagerly await the launch of a government market bailout fund, dealers said.The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE-100 index gained 123.83 points to close at 5,917.4. At mid-session, the index had gained 162 points before dropping back.Volume was 210.11 million shares, almost on par with Friday's level and near the average 250 million shares that changed hands daily in 2007, when the market was tipped as one to watch among developing economies.Shares have rebounded since Thursday's close. At that point, the market had lost 37 percent of its value since December 15, when regulators removed a "floor" imposed in August to stop heavy losses on the KSE-100.Investor confidence has been on the rise since the government announced last week that the state-owned National Investment Trust-State Enterprise Fund (NIT-SEF) would soon be launched, perhaps as soon as this week.The entity, funded by state institutions and a consortium of banks, will invest 20 billion rupees (250 million dollars) in eight selected stocks, and then resell them to overseas Pakistanis, in a bid to prop up the market.Analysts said the package could be launched at any time this week, but dealers were already in high spirits.