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  • LPG price remains unchanged

    Islamabad: Pak Arab Refinery Company (Parco), a state-owned producer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and others, has kept the LPG price unchanged at Rs103, 525 per ton, including taxes, for the month of December.

    Another state-run LPG producer, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), which also produces crude oil and gas, has also left its base stock price unchanged at Rs103, 500 for the current month.

    These decisions are full and final conclusion to speculation that state producers are going to increase the LPG price by Rs46,000 to Rs150,000 per ton in line with the rise in Saudi Aramco’s contract price.

    Pakistani LPG producers set their prices in line with the Saudi Aramco’s contract price, which rose to $1,175 per ton on December 1. However, this is the third month that Parco and OGDC have left the prices untouched at $840 per ton.
    The demand for LPG typically soars with the onset of winter as many households and industrial units, who do not receive natural gas from the pipeline network, turn to LPG.

    Following the announcement from Parco and OGDC, retail prices of LPG are expected to remain stable at Rs130 per kg in Sindh and Balochistan, Rs140 per kg in Punjab and Rs150 per kg in AJK and northern areas.

  • Indian banks borrowed 9.26bn rupees under MSF

    Mumbai: Indian banks borrowed 9.26 billion Indian rupees ($148.73 million) from the central bank’s marginal standing facility (MSF) window on Dec. 2 for one day, sharply lower than the 86.50 billion rupees borrowed on Nov. 29 for three days.

    The Reserve Bank of India cut the MSF rate by 25 basis points (bps) on Oct. 29 to 8.75 percent.

    It had raised the rate by 200 bps to 10.25 percent in mid-July. Banks usually tap the MSF rate during acute cash tightness.

    Source: Reuters

  • Temperate trading of cotton

    Karachi: Trading on the cotton market remained moderate where buyers restricted their activity anticipating further fall in prices on higher phutti (seed-cotton) arrival figures due on Tuesday.

    Floor brokers said that market generally remained steady amid moderate and slow trading as most of the buyers preferred avoiding taking ‘long position’ ahead of arrival figures of phutti.

    They further said that phutti arrival figures up to Dec 1 are expected to around 11 million bales or about 10pc higher over last year.

    Consequently buyers restrained their activity which left the market devoid of trading.

    The global cotton market scenario also gave steady posture where China and India have so far not entered the world market to sell their huge exportable surplus.

    India is expected to have around 10m bales of exportable surplus and China is holding huge carryover stocks from last season.

    According to reports, yarn market is also moving steadily where some higher off-take from value-added textile industry is keeping prices firm.

    The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates remained unchanged at week-end level and trading on ready counter was moderate.

  • Shanghai hit by IPO fears: Asian shares

    Hong Kong: Asian markets mostly fell on Monday, with Tokyo hit by profit-taking, while Shanghai tumbled on expectations China will restart initial public offerings in the New Year, raising fears of a share glut.

    Investors seemed broadly unmoved by upbeat figures showing Chinese manufacturing continuing to expand in November.

    Tokyo ended flat, edging down 6.80 points, to 15,655.07, a second successive loss after hitting a near six-year high on Thursday. Sydney fell 0.76 per cent, or 40.5 points, to 5,279.5, its lowest close in seven weeks and Seoul lost 0.69 per cent, or 14.09 percent, to end at 2,030.78.

    Shanghai lost 0.59 per cent, or 13.13 points, to 2,207.37 but Hong Kong was up 0.66 per cent, adding 157.26 points to 24,038.55, it’s highest since April 2011.

    The banking giant said its China purchasing managers’ index (PMI) sat at 50.8 last month, which while down from 50.9 in October is much better than the 50.4 initially estimated on November 21.

    Anything above 50 is considered growth and anything below indicates contraction.

    Beijing at the weekend unveiled guidelines on changes to the way companies list as well as new rules that allow those already listed on the stock market to find new ways to raise cash.

    Japan’s Nikkei fell for a second straight session after closing on Thursday at a near six-year high. The index saw further selling pressure as investors cashed in profits while the yen edged up against the dollar.

    In afternoon trade the dollar fetched 102.56 yen, against 102.42 yen in New York Friday. The euro bought $1.3601 and 139.52 yen compared with $1.3590 and 139.18 yen.

    On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was up 43 cents at $93.15 in afternoon trade while Brent North Sea crude for January climbed 37 cents to $110.06.

    Gold fetched $1,244.54 per ounce at 0831 GMT compared with $1,245.50 on Friday.