Daily Times

The KSE 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with a bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining 241.90 points, with a positive change of 0.51 per cent, closing at 47,377.38 points against 47,135.48 points on the previous working day.

A total of 382,644,494 shares were traded during the day compared to the trade of 370,038,860 shares the previous day whereas the price of shares stood at Rs15.710 billion against Rs12.090 billion the previous day.

As many as 472 companies’ transacted shares in the stock market, 222 of them recorded gain and 223 sustained losses whereas the share price of 27 companies remained unchanged.

The three top traded companies were Ghani Glo Hol with a volume of 27,600,000 shares and price per share of Rs42.46, WorldCall Telecom with a volume of 26,706,500 and price per share of Rs3.45 and Engro Polymer with volume of 25,980,500 and price per share of Rs56.59.

Indus Motor Co witnessed maximum increase of Rs69.36 per share, closing at Rs1334.45. Sapphire Fiber was runner up, share prices of which increased by Rs58.79, closing at Rs934.99.

Philip Morris Pak recorded a maximum decrease of Rs34.98 per share, closing at Rs930 followed by Nestle Pakistan XD, the prices of which declined by Rs20 per share, closing at Rs5850. Staff Report

BOI invites German investors to SEZs: The Board of Investment (BOI) on Wednesday said that there were a lot of opportunities for German investors in the Special Economic Zone (SEZs) and the government would provide them with all the facilities.

The Secretary Board of Investment (BOI) Fareena Mazhar said this while talking about investment facilitation, and elaborated on the incentives introduced for investors, especially in the domain of tax exemption in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), said a press release issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

The Ambassador of Pakistan to Germany Dr Muhammad Faisal called on the secretary.

She added that the tax free regime of SEZs had great potential for attracting investors and apprised the ambassador about the recent tax reforms regarding elimination of minimum turnover tax for zone enterprises.

The secretary said that the BOI would move forward with the new template after consultations with the foreign office and the ambassador assured of his full support in that regard.

While discussing the possible areas of investment in Pakistan, the ambassador conveyed that German investors were interested in hydrogen production through excess power available in Pakistan. The ambassador shared that Siemens and IKEA were interested to invest in Pakistan.

Dr Faisal said that this was an untapped segment and had good investment prospects being an excellent alternate fuel for the future.

He further added that many German businesses including Siemens and IKEA had specifically shown interest in investing in Pakistan.

The interest of German companies in Gwadar Pasni Railway and auto sector of Pakistan was also brought under discussion.

During the meeting, the ambassador was also apprised about the recent development in Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and the new template approved by the cabinet.

Both sides underscored the importance of regular coordination between BOI and the German embassy and decided to formulate a detailed plan for holding an investment conference in Germany to highlight the investment potential of Pakistan.

Some important meetings between German business giants and Secretary BOI are expected to follow as a consequence of today’s interaction.