Day: December 10, 2020

Stock market gains 102 points amid cautions trading

KARACHI: The stock market gained 102 points on Thursday amid cautious approach of investors amid negative reports from political front.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,306 points as against 42,204 points showing an increase of 102 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market maintained the cautious approach as have been witnessed in the previous sessions, however, in the process discounted the potential negative impact of resignation of Opposition parties from National and Provincial Assemblies as well as the threat of Indian false flag operation.

Investors focused gaze on fundamentally sound scrips, essentially the main board scrips, such as HBL and NBP which not only highlights dividend prospects but have so far shown healthy profits in the bottom line.

Cement sector remained range bound, as did O&GMCs and Fertilizer sectors. Investors, in general, have been waiting for a clear positive trigger and have weathered the threats from Political as well as Law and order situation. PIBTL topped the volumes with 50 million shares, followed by UNITY (35.6 million) and KEL (34.1 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+47 points), Technology (+21 points), Cement (+15 points), Transport (+13 points), Fertilizer (+12 points) and E&P (-20 points).

Volumes increased from 438.1 million shares to 472.1 million shares (+8 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 2 percent to reach US$ 120.1 million as against US$ 118.3 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PIBTL, UNITY, KEL, PRL and TRG, which formed 40 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include FFC (+32 points), TRG (+21 points), HBL (+17 points), BAHL (+15 points) and PIBTL (+13 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-20 points), MARI (-10 points), POL (-7 points), KTML (-5 points) and UBL (-5 points).

December 10, 2020
Foreign exchange reserves increase by $160 million

KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $160 million to $20.402 billion by week ended December 04, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $20.242 billion by week ended November 27, 2020.

During the week ended December 04, 2020, SBP received $359 million from multilateral/bilateral sources including $307 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB).

After accounting for external debt repayments, SBP reserves increased by $188 million to $13.298 billion.

The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks however fell by $27 million to $7.104 billion by week ended December 04, 2020 as compared with $7.131 billion a week ago.

SBP approves Rs82.6 million interest free student loan

December 10, 2020
Rupee gains 19 paisas against dollar

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 19 paisas against the dollar on Thursday owing to supply of the foreign currency in the market.

The rupee ended Rs160.29 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs160.48 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency dealers said that the market witnessed demand for import and corporate payments. However, the supply of the dollar in the shape of export receipts and workers remittances.

They said that the pace of inflows likely help the local currency to further gain value against the dollar.

Rupee depreciates by 10 paisas against dollar

December 10, 2020
Sale of Rs25,000 denomination prize bonds stopped

KARACHI: The government has stopped the sale of prize bonds of Rs25,000 denomination with immediate effect and the same shall not be encashed / redeemed after May 31, 2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The SBP said that the finance ministry had already issued instructions in this regard a day earlier. The ministry also announced the issuance of registered or premium prize bonds of Rs25,000 denomination.

The SBP issued following instructions to the president and CEOs of all commercial banks regarding option to replace / encash the bonds:

1. Conversion to Premium Prize Bonds (Registered)

i. The Bonds can be converted to Rs. 25,000/-denomination Premium Prize Bonds (Registered) through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, and branches of six authorized commercial banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited and Bank Alfalah Limited.

ii. The authorized commercial banks shall also issue Rs. 25,000/-denomination Premium Prize Bonds (Registered)as per the prescribed procedure, with immediate effect. Stock of the same has already been delivered to authorized commercial banks.

iii. The bondholder shall be required to submit a written request for conversion of bearer bonds to Rs. 25,000/-Premium Prize Bonds (Registered) on the prescribed application form.

iv. The bondholder shall also be required to submit prescribed application forms for registration / purchase of Premium Prize Bonds as per the procedure in vogue.

2. Replacement with Special Savings Certificate (SSC) / Defence Savings Certificate (DSC)

i. The Bonds can be replaced with SSC / DSC through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, authorized commercial banks and National Savings Centers.

ii. All authorized commercial banks shall, therefore, accept requests for replacement of bearer bonds with SSC or DSC on the prescribed application form.

iii. The bondholder shall also be required to submit application form for purchase of SSC / DSC (SC-1) as per the prescribed procedure

3. Encashment at Face Value

i. The Bonds will only be encashed by transferring the proceeds to the bond holder`s bank account through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, at authorized commercial bank branches and to the Savings Accounts at National Savings Centres.

ii. All commercial banks shall receive requests for encashment of bearer bonds on the prescribed application form.

A copy of the application form (Annexure A), duly signed and stamped, shall be provided to the bondholder as an acknowledgement receipt.

Moreover, the prize bonds encashed / replaced by the general public may be surrendered to the concerned SBP BSC office through the respective regional office of the commercial bank.

For this purpose, the regional office may intimate the SBP BSC office three days in advance so that necessary arrangements for receipt of the bonds can be made.

It is imperative to mention that a notice regarding the above-mentioned facilities must be displayed at prominent places within branch premises for awareness and information of the general public.

December 10, 2020
National Savings tightens checks on investors

ISLAMABAD: The government has tightened monitoring of investors of national savings to comply with conditions of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and prevent transactions related to money laundering and terror financing.

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has prepared a comprehensive plan to examine the customers and issued instructions to all its regional offices in the country.

The plan has been prepared by the National Savings (AML&CFT) Supervisory Board in consultation with the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).

Under the plan the offices of the national savings have been advised to follow the guidelines in examining and monitoring the customs of the saving certificates and prize bonds.

All those customers will be examined where overall investment quantum, account balance or transactional activity is not in line with their businesses, known means or stated purpose of products.

The authorities issued red flags for transactional patterns related to all products, including certificates, accounts and prize bonds.

Following are the red flags to identify suspicious transactions:

·         Nominee is not a close relative or change in nominee (for instance, to include non-family members).

·         Third party check is provided for investment.

·         Purchase of a long-term investment product followed shortly thereafter by a request to liquidate the position to get back the invested amount.

·         Overall investment quantum, account balance or transactional activity is not in line with the customer’s business, known means or stated purpose of the product.

·         Client is frequently purchasing savings certificates / prize bonds through unusual payments in cash which do not commensurate with his/her profile.

·         Unusually high levels of investments or unusually large transactions in relation to what might reasonably be expected of clients with a similar profile.

·         When transactions are conducted without any apparent legitimate or economic reason.

·         Where multiple deposits are made by unrelated individuals.

·         Large cash is deposited followed by early withdrawal.

·         Where large deposits and withdrawals are made routinely, and the end of day balance is very low or nil.

·         When a customer insists to buy multiple savings certificates/prize bonds through structured/broken cash transactions to avoid CTR reporting threshold (PKR 2.0 Million and above).

·         Two or more customers (Linked/associated with each other) working together to break one cash transaction into two or more transactions to evade the CTR reporting requirement.

·         Purchase of higher denomination Prize Bonds against cash without providing any plausible justification.

·         Encashment of higher denomination Prize Bonds without any plausible justification.

·         When a customer is frequently converting one product into another (especially in the name of an unrelated third party) without any plausible justification.

·         Numerous prizes are repeatedly/very frequently being claimed by the customer against winning prize bonds during a short span of time.

December 10, 2020
Annual tax return filing by due date falls 29 percent

ISLAMABAD: Filing of annual income tax returns fell by 29 percent for tax year 2020 by due date as compared with number of return filed by due date for tax year 2019.

The FBR on Wednesday said that it had received around 1.8 million income tax returns for tax year 2020 by the due date i.e. December 08, 2020, which was extended from September 30, 2020. Since the FBR has refused to further extend the date so December 08, 2020 has been taken as the closing date for filing income tax returns for tax year 2020 without fine and penalty.

The FBR received 2.53 million returns by due date i.e. February 28, 2020, which was extended from September 30, 2019 to October 31, 2019, then November 30, 2019, then December 16, 2019, then December 31, 2019, then January 31, 2020 and final extension granted up to February 28, 2020.

The number of 2.53 million returns has been shown on the Active Taxpayers List (ATL) for tax year 2019 issued on March 01, 2020.

Around 2.98 million returns for tax year 2019 have been filed till December 06, 2020 as shown in the updated weekly ATL issued on December 07, 2020.

The latest number of returns filed for tax year 2020 has shown that it was around 39.6 percent or 1.18 million returns short when compared with latest ATL for tax year 2019.

On the other hand the FBR on Wednesday said that it had received 1.8 million tax returns for tax year 2020 by the last date i.e. December 08, 2020 as compared with 1.73 million returns received on the same date last year, showing 4 percent growth. However, the FBR said that around 300,000 taxpayers had submitted applications for date extension by the due date. This number will also add to the total number of returns filed for tax year 2020.

It is worth mentioning that the due date for filing income tax returns for tax year 2019 was extended up to February 28, 2020.

Further, since the launch of ATL on March 01, 2020 or the due date of February 28, 2020 for tax year 2019 the FBR received another 450,000 returns for the same year up to December 06, 2020.

The FBR through its press release said that its decision of not extending the date beyond December 08, 2020 was right. The decision for not extending the last date was taken to ensure discipline in return filing by due date.

However, collection of tax with return has shown significant increase. The FBR said that collection with return increased to Rs22 billion by the due date i.e. December 08, 2020, was 63 percent higher when compared with Rs13.5 billion by the same date of the last fiscal year.

December 10, 2020