Tag: Interest

KARACHI - The local bourse exhibited bullish activity, as the benchmark 100 index closed 76.10 points up, spurred by institutional and foreign investors' interest. The KSE-100 index closed at 11,885.64 points against 11,809.54 points, a day earlier.
The intraday high and low was 11,890.63 and 11,812.06 points respectively, while the day's turnover was recorded at 80.50 million against Thursday's 68.52 million. Market capitalisation also remained upward, at Rs 3.164 trillion,

ISLAMABAD - As the federal cabinet approved on Monday the reopening of the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered Law Minister Babar Awan to prepare a reference in this regard and told the cabinet's special meeting that he had decided to visit Mohali on the invitation of his Indian counterpart in "national interest". The cabinet's special meeting, in principle, approved the decision by President Asif Ali Zardari to revisit the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case and

KARACHI - The local bourse had a week of slim volumes of 62.56 million, indicating that lack of investor participation has largely impacted performance. The index moved within a band of merely 289 points whilst the benchmark shrunk 54.48 points within the week.
Foreign participation, in the week, was up by a meager $4.82 million. The SBP allowed forward cover for exports, to allow the banking industry fetch better returns from dealing in foreign exchanges, while forward cover

ISLAMABAD - The rare second extension being given by the government to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha is mainly due to the high level of confidence that army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has in his person and also because of the grave internal and external security challenges confronting the country.
It was not more than a year after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani gave General Kayani a three-year extension that the government decided

NEWS ANALYSIS - It was one phone call that had made General Pervez Musharraf redefine Pakistan's "national interest" in 2001. The nation and all political parties without any exception still continue to condemn him for the "sell-out", albeit anyone in his place would probably do the same. The Americans, however, paid him back and did not withdraw their support until he himself made a "strategic mistake" or for that matter was duped into a situation that brought the entire nation on

KARACHI - Though the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reportedly issued a draft of procedures to be utilised by Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), the regulator has not received yet any application in this regard.
The Member Technical PTA Dr Khawar Siddiq Khokar, while speaking to Pakistan Today, said that the regulator has not received any official applications in this regard yet, however, the potential virtual operator must first have a commercial agreement

KARACHI - The country's traders and industrialists expressed dissatisfaction over a status-quo in the discount rate announced by the State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday.
The Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Patron in-Chief SM Muneer and Chairman Syed Johar Ali Qandhari said that a rising trend of discount rates had mounted non-performing loans (NPLs).
Industrialists said that a reduction in the interest rate was need of the hour. The SBP should look to

LAHORE - Terrorism will have to be rooted-out in the national interest, as anti-nation forces are bent upon destroying peace and law and order and there is a need for unity to foil their nefarious designs, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Thursday.
He was chairing a meeting to review various aspects of the Urdu Bazaar bomb blast and pace of investigation into the matter. Shahbaz said that nothing could be more important than maintenance of peace in the existing

KARACHI - The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) sustained profit taking, as investors turned bearish on the pretext of advance Capital Gains Tax (CGT) filing for the period of July-December 2010. Investors appeared fearful of wealth sources investigation by the tax authorities.
The KSE-100 index dwindled 165.74 points to close at 12411.87 points, while the volume stood at 160,142,195. Moreover, the KSE-30 index squeezed 210 points to close at 12115.84 points, while the all share index

MUNICH - Real Madrid have approached Germany star Miroslav Klose and are interested in luring the veteran Bayern Munich striker to Spain to replace injured Gonzalo Higuain, his agent said Thursday.
According to Spanish paper AS, Klose is top of Real coach Jose Mourinho's wish-list to replace Argentina star Higuain, who has undergone a knee operation and looks set to be out for the rest of the season. Klose's agent Alexander Schuett told Bild: "There have been some inquiries from

BEIJING - China's central bank on Saturday raised interest rates for the second time in three months as authorities ramped up efforts to curb borrowing, rein in property prices and tame inflation.
The People's Bank of China said in a brief one-line statement that it will increase the one-year lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points each. The move takes the rates to 5.81 percent and 2.75 percent respectively from Sunday.
In October, policymakers raised rates for the

LAHORE: Contemporary Islamic Scholars deem the imposition of modern day interest forbidden by Quranic injunctions. This has given impetus to 'Islamic Banking', which now runs parallel to mainstream banking.
Actually, there is no basic difference between the two; under both systems, returns paid to depositors and those received from borrowers, are based on the discount rate of the central bank, which, in itself, is an interest rate.
The sponsors of 'Islamic banks' are

ISLAMABAD: The Walters Power International and its Pakistani associate Pakistan Power Resources (PPR) headed by Iqbal Z Ahmed, promised the Supreme Court on Wednesday they would repay in full the mobilization advance along with interest to the government's Central Power Generation Company Ltd, which is said to give electricity production contracts and regulate them.
Both the companies were directed by the SC to repay the advance after detection of fraud by National Electric

LAHORE: Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) Chief Executive Officer Saadat Muzaffar has said that Punjab has developed infrastructure for the facilitation of foreign investors.
PBIT provides technical support and assistance to foreign investors initiating projects in Punjab. He was speaking to a nine member delegation of Japanese Agriculturists (JA).
The delegation was headed by JA Vice Chairman Yasuhiro Nakagawa and President Kyoto Union of Agriculture

KARACHI: The market dwindled by 35 points today and closed at 11,171 levels. A total of 155 million shares were traded as investors opted to book profits in key oil stocks.
A bull run at the local bourse was cut short by a mild correction of 35 points or 0.31 percent in today's trading session as the index closed at 11,171 levels.
Following a massive gain of 3.05 percent in the last three trading sessions, before and after Eid, profit booking was inevitable in order to

MUMBAI: US President Barack Obama on Sunday urged arch-rivals India and Pakistan to work together to resolve their differences, while pushing Islamabad to do more to tackle extremism.
Speaking to college students in Mumbai, Obama said the US "could not impose" a partnership between the two countries, but added fast-growing India would benefit more than any other nation from better ties with Pakistan.
"I am absolutely convinced that the country that has the biggest stake in

ISLAMABAD: Negating the impression that the Sindh government was against the reformed general sales tax (RGST), Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira said tough economic decisions causing price-hike in the country were being made in national interest.
"We are not fools. We are cognisant of the fact that our certain economic decisions will cause price-hike and may make us unpopular among the masses. But we are making such decisions in national interest, as the country cannot