Banks to join National Clearing House: margin financing system mechanics decided

A nine-member committee has been formed to smooth the transition from COT (Badla) to margin financing. Comprising four bankers and five brokers, the committee would have former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and now President of Metropolitan Bank, Kasim Parekh, as its chairman. In a series of meetings held at the State Bank of Pakistan Head Office on Saturday, chaired by the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan and attended by Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Dr Tariq Hasan.

Banks to join National Clearing House: margin financing system mechanics decided

A nine-member committee has been formed to smooth the transition from COT (Badla) to margin financing. Comprising four bankers and five brokers, the committee would have former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and now President of Metropolitan Bank, Kasim Parekh, as its chairman. In a series of meetings held at the State Bank of Pakistan Head Office on Saturday, chaired by the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan and attended by Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Dr. Tariq Hasan.

UBL IPO may miss deadline

The Privatisation Commission has virtually missed the deadline of April 30 for the United Bank Limited (UBL) initial public offering (IPO) as the Security & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and stock exchanges are yet to register the transaction, it was learnt here on Friday. In the case of IPO, after the cabinet committee on privatisation (CCoP) approval, the privatisation commission is required to submit the case with the SECP for registration.

Minimum 50 million free-float allowed for futures market

The Board of Directors of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), in a meeting with Commissioner Securities Market, Shahid Ghaffar, has elaborated several rules related to futures market including that from May 2005, no scrip shall qualify for futures market unless its free-float is 50 million or more. Moreover, member’s exposure in Futures Contract in a scrip shall not exceed 1 percent of the free-float, as determined by the Exchange, under its free-float methodology.

Assessment of liquidity in stock market: Shaukat summons adviser, SBP governor

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has summoned his Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah and State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Husain to assess the placement of liquidity in the stock market for phasing out of COT (badla) with margin financing. At present, Salman and Ishrat are in the US to attend International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings. They are scheduled to return on April 25. Now they would report in Islamabad directly.

Badla phasing system extended

The Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has accepted the demand of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) related to badla phasing system from margin financing, which failed to cheer the investors’ mood on Tuesday. The SECP, through a letter, informed the KSE which later on circulated as a notice for all members. The letter said that the Commission is pleased to note that the KSE board has decided to implement a number of the terms and conditions, agreed to by the Commission and the KSE in the meetings held on April 16 and 17, 2005, which are essential to ensure the smooth phase-out of COT.

Kapco posts Rs3,687m profit in six months

PC asked to allot 10 percent kapco shares for Wapda workers

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has asked the Privatisation Commission (PC) to allocate 10 percent shares of Kot Addu Power Company ( kapco ) for Wapda employees through suitable amendment in the offer for sale document, sources in PC told Business Recorder. They said that Wapda Chairman Tariq Hamid has written a letter, the second in three weeks, to Privatisation Ministry Secretary, inviting his attention towards concerns of Wapda and Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) union of employees regarding non-allocation of quota of kapco public shares to be offloaded to Wapda employees.

Test trading session finds LSE and ISE ready for merger

Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) and Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) have jointly conducted a successful mock-trading session here on Saturday. The information technology (IT) experts of the exchanges said the operational capacity and system topology were measured and subsequently found satisfactory. The successful completion of mock-trading session has further strengthened the merger scheme of two bourses. Now, the ISE and LSE both were technologically ready for merger, experts added.

Meanwhile, the ISE Chairman Abdul Waheed Jan told this correspondent the board meeting would be held on March 16 to give formal approval to the merger of ISE and LSE. Both the exchanges had already agreed on setting up of a new company to promote integration of stock exchanges in the country.

OGDC contributes 68 percent on KSE since January

The Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC) is the trend-setter and since the beginning of 2005, of the gains made by KSE-100 index, nearly 68 percent has been contributed by this equity. Among the top and active stocks of KSE, analysis shows that OGDC remains the major contributor responsible for the increase of approximately 2,300 points, or 68 percent, out of the overall 3,356 points jump since the beginning of the current calendar year.