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Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • Stocks tumble on enforcement of COVID lockdown

    Stocks tumble on enforcement of COVID lockdown

    KARACHI: The stock exchange ended down by 257 points on Friday after the Sindh government to impose strict lockdown to prevent spread of coronavirus.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 47,056 points as against previous day’s close of 47,312 points, showing a decline of 257 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that with the optimism of deferring the COVID lockdown, the market added 330 points earlier in the session today, however, government’s decision to impose strict lock down in the face of rising COVID cases eroded all the earlier gains and caused the Index to tumble.

    Banks, O&GMCs, Cement, Chemical, Refinery and Technology sectors bore the brunt of lockdown, whereas steel sector performed well due to announcement of price increase by flat steel manufacturers.

    Among scrips, WTL led the table with 39.2 million shares, followed by BYCO (38.4 million) and TELE (24.6 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (-54 points), Fertilizer (-45 points), Cement (-35 points), Banks (-27 points) and Textile (-17 points).

    Volumes increased from 376.4 million shares to 399.1 million (6 per cent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 12 per cent to reach US$ 84.8 million as against US$ 75.7 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BYCO, TELE, HUMNL and TPL, which formed 34 per cent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include EFERT (+12 points), MEBL (+11 points), PSX (+10 points), HMB (+9 points) and SCBPL (+8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-47 points), FFC (-44 points), HBL (-39 points), LUCK (-23 points) and PPL (-17 points).

  • Rupee depreciates by 54 paisas against dollar

    Rupee depreciates by 54 paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 54 paisas against the dollar on Friday owing to higher demand of the foreign currency for advance import payments.

    The rupee ended Rs162.43 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs161.89 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the market witnessed higher demand of the dollar for import payments ahead of weekly holidays.

    The currency experts said that the rupee was depreciating due to higher import payments because of better economic growth.

    However, they said that the lockdown would discourage the demand of dollar for import payments.

  • FBR not to extend last date for filing tax return

    FBR not to extend last date for filing tax return

    Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will not extend the last date for filing income tax returns, this was stated by Sardar Ali Khawaja, Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue at the Regional Tax Office (RTO) in Peshawar.

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  • Sindh to set up new industrial zone in Karachi

    Sindh to set up new industrial zone in Karachi

    KARACHI: The Sindh government has expedited work on a proposal to set up a new industrial zone “NKATI 2” like North Karachi Industrial Area.

    For this purpose a site is being sought and in consultation with the North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry (NKATI). It will be finalized later.

    This was stated by Minister Information & Local Government Sindh, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah during a meeting with a delegation led by Faisal Moiz Khan, President NKATI, SVP Shabir Ismail and Syed Yasir Hussain, Chairman Sub-Committee Local Bodies at his residence.

    Syed Nasir Hussain Shah further said that promotion of trade & industry is the top priority of Sindh government and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto has also the same vision.

    Therefore, all resources will be utilized to create vast employment opportunities and promote industrialization. He also directed the MD Water Board to ensure uninterrupted supply of water to the industries.

    The Provincial Minister also assured the Sindh Building Control Authority to regularize the factories located in North Karachi Industrial Area and solve the issues related to District Municipal Corporation. He further said that Capt. A Moiz Khan Road would also be inaugurated and a notification would be issued soon.

    In a meeting with the Provincial Minister, Faisal Moiz Khan, President NKATI, apprised the industrialists of the problems faced by them, and said that production activities were being severely affected due to non-supply of water to North Karachi industries. However, the issues related to DMC are also increasing day by day which needs immediate attention.

    “The Sindh government should set up a new industrial zone like North Karachi Industrial Zone to promote industries so that more and more new industries could be set up and vast employment opportunities could be created”, he suggested. Faisal Moiz Khan also requested the provincial minister to regularize the factories from Sindh Building Control Authority.

    Expressing satisfaction over the assurance of the provincial minister to resolve the issues under discussion at the meeting, NKATI president said that industrialists would extend all possible cooperation with Sindh government to increase production activities and promote industries.

  • Stock market ends stable after early day losses

    Stock market ends stable after early day losses

    KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday witnessed selling and lost around 363 points. But it recovered by end of the day.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 47,312 points as against previous day’s close of 47,318 points, showing a decline of 6 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market lost another 363 points during the session today, however, covered a lot of ground and ended the session -6 points.

    Banks, E&P, Cement, Power and Technology sectors saw selling pressure on the concern of lockdown as well as rollover positions, whereby investors preferred selling in ready market and bought futures.

    LUCK saw abrupt movement where the stock price remained depressed the entire session, moved up in the half closing hour and saw a major sell-off in the closing minute to end at the lowest price of the session.

    Among scrips, WTL led the volumes with 49.5 million shares, followed by BYCO (47.1 million) and UNITY (16.1 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-40 points), Chemical (+19 points), Refinery (+12 points), Autos (+12 points), Fertilizer (+12 points) and Inv Banks (+11 points).

    Volumes increased from 365.7 million shares to 376.4 million shares (+3 per cent DoD). Average traded value declined slightly by 0.4 per cent to reach US$ 75.7 million as against US$ 75.8 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BYCO, UNITY, FFBL and HUMNL, which formed 36 per cent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include THALL (+13 points), EFERT (+12 points), LUCK (+11 points), DAWH (+9 points) and ICI (+8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-32 points), UBL (-9 points), HCAR (-9 points), ANL (-6 points) and PSMC (-5 points).

  • Rupee ends firmer against dollar

    Rupee ends firmer against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against the dollar on Thursday owing to better inflows to meet demand for import payments.

    The rupee ended at Rs161.89 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs161.90 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the market had seen dollar demand for import payments. However, supply of the foreign currency was sufficient to meet the demand.

  • Expenses on scientific research against tax liability

    Expenses on scientific research against tax liability

    Section 26 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, provides a significant incentive for businesses in Pakistan. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has incorporated this provision, updated up to June 30, 2021, through the Finance Act, 2021, encouraging businesses to engage in scientific research.

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  • Tax treatment of pre-commencement expenditure

    Tax treatment of pre-commencement expenditure

    Section 25 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 provides a valuable tax benefit by allowing deductions for pre-commencement expenditure.

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  • Google announces vaccine requirement for its officials

    Google announces vaccine requirement for its officials

    Google is the first big tech company to announce a vaccine requirement for returning to its offices. The decision may push other tech companies to follow with similar moves.

    Google will now require employees who work in its offices to be fully vaccinated and is pushing back its start date for when they need to report back to the office in response to the highly contagious delta variant spreading across the United States and around the world.

    Google made the announcement in a note sent to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday.

    In it, Pichai says the company has seen high vaccination rates for Google employees so far and that is why it is comfortable in bringing workers back into the office.

    Currently, there are some early volunteers who are already working at various Google campuses.

    “For those of you with special circumstances, we will soon be sharing expanded temporary work options that will allow you to apply to work from home through the end of 2021,” said Pichai in the note.

    In the spring, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon started rolling out their return-to-office plans which largely involved a hybrid approach — three days of work in the office and two at home, starting for most employees in the fall.

    For the most part, wearing masks was not going to be a requirement for vaccinated in-office workers at most companies, and getting vaccines was not mandated. Now the companies’ plans appear to going through another round of revisions.

    Apple was the first company to change its fall 2021 return-to-office date, announcing in July that workers would not be required back until October instead of the previously announced date in September.

  • Get $100 for coronavirus vaccination

    Get $100 for coronavirus vaccination

    New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced to pay $100 for people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

    New Yorkers, who get their first vaccine dose, starting Friday at a city-run vaccination site will get a $100 incentive, the mayor announced Wednesday.

    News reports quoted De Blasio as saying the $100 will make a “big impact, particularly in a world in which more and more things are going to be determined by whether you’re vaccinated or not.”

    “We wanted to supercharge it by saying we’ll give you extra, direct personal incentive to get this done now.”

    Residents and city employees will receive a $100 prepaid debit card, said Rachel Loeb, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

    Residents can immediately redeem the card digitally, or receive a physical debit card.

    The incentive is the latest the mayor has announced to get the city vaccinated. De Blasio said Wednesday that 9,902,097 doses have been administered.

    Fifty-nine percent of the city’s population has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the city, while 54 percent have been fully inoculated.

    •             AFL-CIO backing vaccine requirement for workers

    •             Biden expected to announce vaccine requirement for federal workers…

    On Monday, de Blasio said that all city employees would need to be fully vaccinated or undergo frequent coronavirus testing by September 13.

    The mayor said that while vaccine mandates are a “crucial part” of the solution, mandates work well with incentives. 

    “We’ve talked the last few days about mandates, and there’s no question in my mind that mandates are a crucial part of the solution, and we’ll keep working on those. But we also still believe in incentives. Incentives help immensely. Both go well together,” de Blasio quoted as saying.