Strong
dollar pulls down oil despite tightening fundamentals:
Oil prices fell on
Friday, pulled down by a stronger dollar, but traders said there were signs
that physical fuel markets were tightening after two years of ballooning
oversupply.The dollar rose to its highest level since March against a basket of
other leading currencies .DXY on Friday, potentially crimping demand as fuel
becomes more expensive for countries using other currencies.U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was trading at $50.40 a barrel at 0208 GMT, down
23 cents, or 0.5 percent, from its last settlement. International Brent crude
oil futures LCOc1 were down 19 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $51.19 per
barrel.Crude prices fell over 2 percent in the previous session on the back of
the soaring dollar.Despite the falls, overall sentiment in physical oil markets
was confident as there are mounting signs of a tightening oil market.
PSO
denies any imminent fuel shortage in the country:
The Pakistan State
Oil (PSO) on Thursday denied any imminent fuel shortage in the country and
assured smooth transition to new fuels in due course of time."Pakistan
State Oil refutes the impression that is being created by some circles that
there will be shortage of fuel in the country in the next few days owing to the
decision of the government to import higher grades of Mogas and compliance of
the same by all Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs)," said a statement released
by the national oil company.The statement added that as opposed to the claims made;
the company has sufficient quantities of Mogas and assures the public that
there will be no shortage of fuel for its customers at PSO outlets across the
nation."PSO does not operate on short term gains or minimise its stocks
and will continue to honour its commitment of fuelling the nation under all
circumstances irrespective of commercial benefit to itself as our topmost
priority and commitment is to keep the wheels of the country running."
July-September:
Current account deficit widens 136%
Pakistan’s current
account deficit widened by 136% in the first quarter (Jul-Sep) of 2016-17,
increasing to $1.37 billion on a year-on-year basis, according to data released
by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.With the difference of exports
and imports being the biggest determinant of the current account balance, a
deficit/surplus reflects whether a country is a net borrower/lender with
respect to the rest of the world.The 136% increase means the deficit more than
doubled from $579 million to $1.37 billion, raising further questions on the
country’s balance of payments position in the medium- to long-term.
Central
Asia Regional Economic Cooperation: Pakistan, ADB to ink $250m loan next week
Pakistan and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) will sign a $250 million loan agreement next week,
in a bid to boost cross border trade activities with India and Afghanistan as
part of a regional strategic initiative, backed by multilateral institutions
and some friendly countries.The loan agreement will be signed on the side-lines
of the 15th Ministerial Conference of Central Asia Regional Economic
Cooperation (CAREC) that will take place in Islamabad on October 25-26.
Chinese
interested in water sector
A delegation led by
China First Metallurgy Group Vice Chairman Guo Jizhou calls on Punjab Chief
Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif here on Thursday.The Chinese delegation
expressed interest in investment in water sector of Punjab.Talking to the
delegation, the chief minister said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) has given new dimension to Pakistan-China friendship and China is fully
supporting Pakistan’s progress and prosperity.He said that work is being
carried out speedily on the projects throughout Pakistan under CPEC.Energy
projects are going to complete in a record period under CPEC and economic
corridor project will change the destiny of the region including Pakistan, he
added.
Pakistan
receives $1 billion of Sukuk proceeds:
With the arrival of
Sukuk bonds inflows, the country's total liquid foreign exchange reserves
reached all-time high of $24.24 billion. According to State Bank of Pakistan
(SBP), Pakistan successfully received inflows amounting to $1 billion against
the auction of Sukuk bonds in the world market, following which the country's
forex reserves surged to all-time high. During last week, Pakistan's liquid
forex reserves increased by $969 million to $24.246 billion as on October 14,
2016 compared to $23.492 billion on October 7, 2016.The SBP's liquid foreign
exchange reserves surged by $1.052 billion to $19.462 billion up from $18.41
billion. The increase in SBP's reserves has been mainly attributed to proceeds
of $1 billion against Pakistan Sukuk bonds. During last week, reserves held by
banks decreased by $82 million to $4.999 billion.
Coal
stock yard: transfer of PSM land to PQA likely:
Pakistan Steel Mills
(PSM) Board of Directors(BoD) scheduled to meet on October 24, 2016 is likely
to give green signal to the management to transfer 158 acres of land to Port
Qasim Authority (PQA) on the eastern side of PQA railway line for coal stock
yard.Giving details, one of the Board members told Business Recorder from
Karachi that PSM Board accorded approval to leasing of about 157 acres of land
to PQA for establishment of a coal stock yard loading at the price of Rs 9.35
million per acre on the terms and conditions of M/s SSGC in its last meeting
held on August 15, 2016. Accordingly, Pakistan Steel issued a provisional
allocation letter for 158.347 acres of land to PQA on August 29, 2016 and PQA
accepted the terms and conditions of said allocation letter except rate and
annual increase of ground rent in a letter written on September 02, 2016.PSM
informed PQA on September 15, 2016 that the request of PQA regarding a
reduction of land rent and its annual increase is not viable. On the proposal
of PQA moved through Ministry of Ports & Shipping, PSM Board has accorded
approval to leasing of about 157 acres of land on the terms and conditions of
M/s SSGC and land/ground rent in case of M/s SSGC is Rs 10/- per square yard
with 10% increase per annum.
Atlas Honda’s new
facility inaugurated:
Takahiro Hachigo,
President, CEO and Representative Director of Honda Motor Co Ltd Japan, on
Thursday inaugurated new facility of Atlas Honda Ltd (AHL) in Sheikhupura to
expand its motorbike production. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hachigo announced
that Pakistan has now become the sixth largest motorcycle market in the world.
Saquib H. Shirazi, speaking on the occasion, said with the enhancement of the
production capacity, Atlas Honda is now well poised to serve the expanding
market.
KE allowed 38-paisa
per unit hike; Discos seek Rs2.76 cut:
The distribution
companies of formerly Wapda on Thursday sought Rs2.76 per unit reduction in
consumer tariff for a month as the power regulator approved increase in the
electricity rates for consumers of K-Electric (KE). After a brief public
hearing, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) allowed a
15-paisa per unit increase in KE’s fuel based tariff under monthly fuel price
adjustment for the month of July 2016 and another 23-paisa per unit increase
for the month of August. The increase in tariff would be charged to consumers
in the billing month of November and December respectively. The KE
representatives told Nepra that the increase was necessitated by higher fuel
cost of power generation both from KE’s own plants and purchases from other
sources. It was reported that KE sold more than 1.63 billion electricity units
in July and 1.58bn units in August. The higher power rates would not be
applicable to lifeline consumers using less than 50 units per month.
LNG terminal at
Gwadar: In revised offer, China wants to work as construction contractor
China has withdrawn
its offer of setting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Gwadar Port
on the build-and-operate model and now wants to work as an engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. “In response to
the revision of offer by China, Pakistan will own and operate the terminal and
award EPC contract to the Chinese company working on the Gwadar LNG pipeline
project under a government-to-government arrangement,” an official told The
Express Tribune.
IMF chief, ADB
president likely to visit Pakistan next week:
Federal Finance
Minister Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting here to review arrangements for
international events planned for the next week. The events including visit by
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Laragrde and
Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao as well as 15th Ministerial
conference of Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) being held in
Islamabad. Officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Division
briefed Dar on the overall arrangements for the CAREC conference and high profile
visits in a befitting manner. The minister said that the CAREC conference will
provide member countries an important opportunity to further collaborate in
areas of mutual interest to improve regional cooperation.
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